


The curse

by aishiterumo



Series: The Curse [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: (i just love them), Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Anger Management, Angst, Asexual Character, Attempt at Humor, Betrayal, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood and Injury, Caffeine Addiction, Cliffhangers, Deal with a Devil, Demons, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Grieving, Hallucinations, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Magic, Manipulation, Middle English, Minor Character Death, Minor Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Minor Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Minor Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin, Needles, Panic Attacks, Platonic Relationships, Poisoning, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Power Imbalance, Pseudo-Incest, Psychic Bond, Psychological Torture, References to Depression, Smut, Temporary Character Death, Trauma, Vampires, Warlocks, a/b/o is used but in a non-sexual way, mention of war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:06:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 78,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24723508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aishiterumo/pseuds/aishiterumo
Summary: Chan got emptiness in his soul after being cursed, finding a cure became his number one goal. Until he found happiness again. What would he choose if a cure was finally suggested to him? Follow him through this story to find out.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Series: The Curse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003314
Comments: 76
Kudos: 135





	1. One way of being cursed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is multiple ways to get this curse, Christopher will find one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You read the tags, I'm sorry to disappoint that this chapter is Chris centric lmao

The late 19th century was wild for vampires all around the world. After the publication of _Dracula_ in 1897, people started to see vampires as more of a sophisticated creature rather than a demonic one. It wasn’t false, that they were sophisticated, but it wasn’t true either. Thus, for vampires, it was a good time to be alive—as alive as they could be. It was a time when they could be in the city, not hiding in the surroundings. Almost none of them hid their fangs, nor their capabilities, anymore. Some could levitate, others could run fast, a few could seduce you with only their eyes. It was a good time, for them, because it was easier to hunt for food. No one really feared them anymore, so, no one ran away from them. It was great, because they didn’t need to run either. It was fun, for as long as it lasted. The 20th century killed their fun with each new portray of vampires. But it was still better than before.

15th century. 1493, to be more precise. It was a wild year worldwide. The Treaty of Barcelona got signed, Columbus came back from his first voyage and left for his second, Da Vinci drew the very first helicopter, George I, Anne de Montmorency and even Bartolommeo Bandinelli were born during this year. But most importantly, this is the year Christopher Bang died. At the age of 23, he got walked over by a rich’s horse and miserably died in the middle of a dirty road. His parents and siblings would have cried his death, if it had lasted longer.

Indeed, once dead, Christopher _woke up_ in a dark place in front of a red-like being. Scared, frightened even, he fell on his butt while trying to run away, screaming at the top of his lungs. “ _Noisy_ ,” the creature said with a low, resonating voice, “ _humans art so noisie_ ”. A slight move of their hand, and Christopher felt his body being lifted from the floor and pulled towards them. Still in a low voice, he got offered a choice. He was _a lucky one_ —was he really?—he could choose to, whether, stay dead—this is when he learned he was dead, though—or to be reborn, in that same body of his, with no scratches, no bruises, nothing but a curse upon himself and his future descendants. It wasn’t that hard of a choice. Whatever that curse was, Christopher needed to go back to his family; they were poor, and the boy was the only one able to work and thus earn some money to buy food, clothes, and everything they needed. Without him, his family would die. In the matter of seconds, he chose to be reborn. His curse? It was to seek for blood. To only feel satiated once he’d drink enough blood. And to never die again. Yet, he couldn’t care less about that curse, his only goal being to resurrect and take care of his family. This is how Christopher got up from the dirty road, with no scratches, and walk back to his hut where his family asked him _what took him so long on his way home_.

At first, he didn’t feel his curse. He continued to live his life the same way he had always done. Falling asleep in his shared bed, waking up at dawn, working until noon before going home and cooking lunch for his family. Then, he’d go back to work until dusk and the circle repeating itself. This was until a few days after his resurrection, when he felt his stomach churning every hour, grumbling as if he hadn’t been fed for days, his head spinning a bit and his mouth always feeling dry, that he realised something was wrong. Walking next to a farm, he felt his blood boil, his stomach grumbling fiercely. He tried to ignore his ears ringing and his eyes burning. Yet, he couldn’t hold any longer and, without even remembering how, he found himself on top of a cow, teeth planted deep into its skin as he drained the poor crying animal from its blood. The animal dropped dead at his feet, leaving him panting with blood dripping from his teeth, arms dangling at his sides, head spinning violently as if he had sniffed some opium poppy. When he heard the farmers coming, he ran away and hid in a bush nearby, trying to get down from his high. _What had just happened to him?_

It didn’t happen for another few days, however the next time it did happen, he wasn’t nearby a farm. He was home. And he had just bitten his little sister to death. Crying, he hugged the girl’s body, screaming her name as if it will make her come back. She did not come back. His parents asked what had happened. He confessed. He confessed his sin, his crime. He felt horrible, monstrous. He had just killed his beloved little sister. Guilty, remorseful, he left the household. His parents weren’t sad of his departure. “ _A monster_ ,” this is what they referred him as. This is what he was. Haunted by his sister’s terrified face as he jumped on her, he could not live any longer with this remorse. As he was walking along the road, he jumped in front of a horse— _I died once like this, I can die twice the same way_ , he thought. The horse walked over him. He felt his bones getting crushed by the animal’s hooves, his breath getting caught in his throat. Yet, the animal going on with his travel, Christopher was lying down on the dirt, staring at the sky, breathing, not dead. He screamed, cried, pulling his hair off of his scalp. _This is a real curse_ , he finally realised.

It was hard to live alone and to accept what he had become. He stayed near his family’s house, keeping an eye on them. He barely slept yet didn’t feel tired. He barely ate and only felt satiated after drinking an animal’s blood. It took him at least a month to understand he had become a real monster—a killing monster. That this curse he had agreed to, maybe he shouldn’t have.

Christopher had been living alone for almost a year now. He had finally gotten used to his new self, and what he was capable of—it had been a shock at first when he felt all of his teeth getting longer and his canines becoming fangs, or to feel his body becoming lighter as he ran to make him gain speed. He found it somehow useful, not to be heard whenever he arrived near an animal, or to run faster than anyone, enabling him to run away and not be caught. However, he did find some _weaknesses_ he didn’t have before. He once had to held onto a horse that was debating itself from getting bitten, and his bare hand grabbed the iron harness around the animal. He had yelped in pain, feeling a burning and stinging feeling on his palm. The horse ran away as he tried to deal with the new pain he was feeling, running away when he heard a man’s voice calling the horse’s name. Since that day, he had been avoiding anything made of iron, trying to understand what made him this vulnerable and why it was the only thing able to hurt him.

Living away from his family wasn’t easy at first; he had stayed nearby to look after them. One day, he saw his mother falling on the floor right in front of their hut, sick, starved, she had barely enough energy to stand. Worried, Christopher had run towards her and helped her getting back on her foot. Expecting a thank you and to get allowed to come back home, he only got disappointed a bit more when his own mother rejected him, pushing him away from her and yelling at him that he was a monster. After that day, he still kept an eye on them, however, without him to earn money, his family could only rely on whatever food they had inside of their house and survive. Christopher was only able to watch them die one after another. Without him, none of them survived an entire year. After his father died—the last one from his family—Christopher left to live in the city. This is where he lived the most of his life.

Everyone knew about Christopher, everyone knew about him, and his dead family. He started being the talk of the town, when everyone saw him with the same young face of a 23 years old, while everyone was ageing. Him, he still looked the same, even after 5 years. At some point, people started to see him wandering around farms and killing animals, or to see him drenched in blood after a hunt. They started to ask questions, to spread rumours, to get suspicious of him. “ _Ys he practicyng dark magic?_ ” was what they all started to ask. Christopher didn’t know the danger it’d bring upon himself to talk about his curse. He had a few friends, that he had known for over a decade, he told them about his death, his encounter with that red creature, and his resurrection. People thought he had gone nuts, and started avoiding him, some children even threw rocks at him. Christopher felt unsafe in his hometown, and it was with a heavy heart that he left.

With a few clothes folded in a piece of tissue, he walked along a road, always going straight. He did not know where he was going, nor what he will do once he’ll reach a city where he wants to stay. Along the road, he never felt this alone in his life. Whenever he went through a new territory, he was treated like a stranger—which he actually was—and chase until he left. It was a bargain that he didn’t need much sleep, enabling him to walk for hours during the day but also during the night, reaching new places quicker than a normal human—he wasn’t human after all.

It took Christopher around a month to cross what is now called Australia. He went from what is now Sydney to what was named Perth, walking almost 4,000km while following the coast, to never get lost. He didn’t know where he was heading, as he had never left his small town except to go to the bigger one right next to it and sell stuff, when he was still human. Yet, for the first time in his life, he travelled across what was _his home country_. After a few days of walking, he reached a small town from where he was chased, and it was only when he reached the last city of his journey— _Perth_ , at the opposite side of the country—that he finally got a chance to settle down. It was a big city, and no one seemed to care about the newcomer.

Walking around town, Christopher felt unfitting for this place. He was from the countryside, from a poor family, and there he was in _one of the big cities_ , surrounded by wealth. He was one of the few from his town to know how to read, but that was all he could do. It was seen as a huge advantage in his hometown, however here, it was a trivial thing to know how to read. He needed to know how to write, and have some common knowledge, to get a job, earn money, get a roof to sleep underneath. It took him time. Too much time for a human, a trifle to him.

During his first year in Perth, he lived with some homeless in a shady alleyway. He survived by eating a few rats or other animals that he hunts down. It wasn’t as nutritious as the cows and sheep he used to have, but it did the job. During the day, he sneaked inside of a library, reading all the books he could find on every subject that got his attention. That’s how he studied law, medicine, cooking, economics, and other trivial things. After a bit more than a year, he applied for his very first job, however his shabby-looking clothes got him rejected. After a few other tries—and new clothes he stole—he finally got a job in the very same library he sneaked in.

Five years later, he was working in a small tea shop, had a small but comfortable apartment, had read every book in the library he used to work in, and was respected by his neighbours. It was 1503, and he was still 23 years old. It had been ten years since he got turned into a monster and since he was alone.

Over the years, he learned how to control his new abilities, and discovered them. He tried to understand who he was— _what_ he was—and if there were other like him. He did find a few other monsters like him—it was purely accidental, he was hunting after a lost dog, when he bumped into another one hunting the same animal. It wasn’t a pleasant encounter, they were both starvingly hungry. They jumped onto each other and fought. Christopher was too sure of himself and his inability to die that he misjudged the danger of a fight with his own kind.

None of them died, but they were both in a small puddle of blood—coming from whatever they fed of the day before—with cuts all over their bodies. Breathing unevenly, their cuts healed by themselves quickly. The other monster suddenly laughed, “ _Ye're fairly powerful, for a vampire._ ” Christopher eyed the other boy with curiosity, wondering what he was talking about. Talking for a few more minutes, he learned what a _vampire_ was, and that it was what his kind was called. He also got the chance to meet a few fellow _vampires_ —it still felt weird to name his specie. Through them, he learned a lot. About ways to hunt, what they were, all the things they could do, their weaknesses and particularities, but also about friendship, trust, treason…

They were around a dozen, they all knew each other, _like a family_ they were. There was one _leader_ —kind of, he was simply the oldest one—who took it upon himself to assure that everyone got along with each other. When Christopher entered their closeted group, the leader took him under his wing and learned everything from him. Over the years, they met every two days, talking about everything. At some point, Christopher trusted them enough to tell them about his story—how he got turned, what happened with his family, his journey. They then quickly learned that he was the only _1st generation of pure blood_ , alongside the leader. The rest of them were mostly turned by the leader or half-blood. The half-bloods were the result of a vampire and a human, luckily taking the vampire genes over the humans’ ones, yet they were still considered weaker than the pure blood—1st generations were considered more powerful than the others, as they were the first ones of the lineage. The other ones, turned into vampires by their leader, were a complete mystery for Christopher. All of them had a different story—some got turned by accident as they ingested some of the leader’s blood while they were drinking theirs, some asked to be turned for personal reasons—yet they all had this blind trust over the oldest one, Christopher was amazed.

He would have trusted him blindly for centuries, if he hadn’t broken his trust this easily. It had been almost two centuries since Christopher lived with this pack of vampires. 185 years, to be exact. It had been a few years now since the rumours that the leader wanted to find a way to kill vampires. For what reason? No one really knew, however the rumours turned out to be true when, in 1688, as an English man—Christopher didn’t even know where England was—put foot on Perth’s ground and their so-called leader ran away to him and asked for his crew’s help to kill _monsters who were invading the city_. The old vampire used the poor vampires’ stories he had collected over the years, telling how one had begged to become a monster, how another had eaten their own mother’s heart, or how _Christopher had killed his beloved sister in their shared bed_. The English man, William Dampier, didn’t believe the old man at all, calling him crazy. He asked around town about the man’s word—still curious if it was true or not. What he got as an answer, was that _that man_ was _the monster_. So, after exploring the land, Dampier decided to _rescue_ the one that were _falsely_ accused of being monsters and to _kill the real one_. Christopher got taken on his ship, watching as they fired a gun on the old vampire. The bullet going right through his chest, he fell on the floor. They then boarded the ship again and left, assuming the _monster had been killed_. Christopher stayed on the boat’s deck and watched as his old leader got up, the bullet falling on the floor.

It was Christopher’s first time on a boat, first time on the sea, first time outside of his land. The sailors took the vampires under their wings and taught them how to operate the ship—they weren’t going to travel for free, were they? Pleased, and amazed, Christopher—affectionally named _Chris_ by the sailors—did his best at whatever job he was given, still enjoying being on the deck and to see the sea, the fishes and other animals he had until then only seen in books. He wasn’t the only vampire on board, yet he was the favourite one. He was never objecting to anything, enjoyed talking with the sailors and sharing stories of their own. It was a pleasing journey for Chris, as he discovered a new part of the world.

Their journey lasted a few years, as they discovered new land, new people. Some vampires decided to stay on countries where they felt _at peace_. Chris was happy for them, yet his heart still longed for this same peacefulness. He got offered to go to England with the sailors, to go _home and become family_ , Chris would have accepted if he had not felt panic at the idea of being betrayed again. He would have accepted if they had not landed on another new land towards which he felt some attraction. _So, that was what they felt_ , Chris thought as he decided to stay there. He bid his goodbye to the ship’s crew, took his belongings with him and went inside of the new city.


	2. Another way of being cursed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is more than one way of being cursed, meet Minho to find how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I didn't make a mistake while writing Minho's family name, it's the old spelling.

Korea was a pretty wide country, going from China to the South China Sea, right above Japan. This is where Ni Minho lived. In one big mansion in the middle part of the country, alongside his family. He was 22 years old, age he will keep forever. He was part of a vampire family and was a 2nd generation of pure blood.

His father was a 400-something years old vampire, married for three centuries to the _love of his life_. He only had one kid, Minho. He was the apple of his eye, his beloved child. It didn’t last, though. Minho was some kind of rebel child, he always was. His father paid for him to get educated, yet the boy never stayed on his seat as the teacher was rambling about whatever subject he had at that time. He also got some _vampire history class_. The only moment he listened, was when his teacher talked about their abilities. Minho felt lucky as he had gotten the _super strength_ ability. He felt lucky, that he could crush a bone with a simple press of his fingers on it. Yet, he felt unlucky that his father had the same ability, that he was stronger as he was older than him. He felt unlucky as he got broken bones, every time he brought bad grades home.

His family was part of some elitist vampire clans, richer than the humans as they had accumulated wealth over the centuries. They made pacts between them, one of which being to marry their children together to keep the pure blood lineage. Minho got forced into a marriage with a vampire girl he didn’t even like, nor know.

Afraid of his father, Minho had accepted and married the girl, they moved to one big mansion right next to his family’s. They lived in separate rooms most of the times and barely talked. When his father learned that after ten years, they still didn’t have a child, he started to get even more violent. Minho grew more and more fearful of his father as he got beaten up every day. “ _When will you give me a grandchild?_ ” he always said as he fought him with his long nails, piercing his flesh like a blade. Fearing him, Minho started to find ways to intoxicate his mind. Only alive in his own soul, he started drinking coffee as a way to pass time. However, he went from drinking one coffee every day to two, three, four, five, until he found himself drinking ten cups in a day and being grumpy when he didn’t get one. His fear got him addicted to coffee.

1698, Minho had been a vampire for 100 years, he had been married for 15 years and he had enough. He didn’t like that girl—even if she didn’t do anything wrong—for the simple reason that he _did not_ like _girls_. He had known his sexual preferences since he was a child, when he had accidentally kissed a vampire boy while playing around in his backyard. He had told his mom, who pleaded him to keep it a secret until he was _old enough_. 100 years old, he was old enough to stop keeping it a secret. He divorced his wife, bid his goodbye to his mom, and ran away from home. “ _You’re a coward and a disgrace to this family!_ ” he heard his father yell as he left the mansion’s ground.

He strayed in the streets for a few weeks until he met a fellow vampire, a half-blood who let him stay in his small apartment. It wasn’t luxurious, nor was it clean, but he got free food and a place to sleep. Well, that is what he thought. The other vampire, after a few days, asked for _services in return_. Which, in fact, was just lust talking. _He is more human than he seems_ , Minho had thought as he ran away once again.

It wasn’t until three months after running away from home that he met with _Chan_. The boy was another pure blood, yet 105 years older than him, and seemingly smarter. He had a strong accent as he talked and didn’t know the city that well as he had arrived not even a year before.

Minho was still rich, and had access to luxury, he hadn’t used his money since he had left as he feared becoming like his dad. The only luxury he had allowed himself was coffee. Every day he went to a café of sorts and stayed for a few hours. This was actually how he met Chan. Minho was sitting next to the big window, looking outside as he drank his fifth coffee of the day, when he saw a shadow passing in the street. Curious, he paid for his drinks and left. Once outside, he smelled a strong scent of his specie. He ran while following the scent, leading him to a dark alleyway where Chan was devouring a small dog—well, its blood.

“ _Who are you?_ ” Minho had asked in a loud voice, drawing the other’s attention.

“ _You, who are you?_ ” The other asked as he turned towards him.

“ _Ni Minho, a vampire just like you, so drop your guard and tell me your name,_ ” he simply stated with furrowed brows. The other vampire seemed to think for a moment before nodding,

“ _Christopher Bang, but old friends called me Chris_.”

“ _Ch-Chr-What?_ ” Minho tried to think for a moment, “ _You’re not from around here, are you?_ ”

“ _I’m from far away, I travelled around the land and the sea before finally settling here_ ,” that Chris-something guy said, sounding proud of himself.

“ _Well, your name won’t get you any friends here_.”

“ _Then what should I call myself?_ ” the boy asked, genuinely curious.

“ _I’ll call you Chan. Bang Chan_ ,” the vampire said, laughing to himself as he knew everyone would at least accidentally call him _side dish_ once in their life, “ _Feel free to call yourself like that too_.”

“ _Oh, well. Thanks, Lee Minho_.” Chan said with a smile.

“ _My name is Ni Minho, not Lee Minho_.”

Chan simply smirked and left in the speed of light, leaving Minho standing in the middle of the alleyway, hair still flying around in the wind.

The two boys met a few more times, hunting the same prey more than once. Every time, they talked for a few minutes, until one day, Minho let it slip that he was partially homeless. Chan, as he had settled down in a cute apartment and found a job way more easily than he had thought, offered Minho to live with him. “ _What? No! I’m not! I won’t!_ ” he had said, offended.

Two days later, Minho took step inside of Chan’s apartment and settled down his belongings in a corner, bowing down as he thanked the older boy.

Chan wasn’t home often, contrary to Minho. The older vampire worked most of the day and hunted most of the night. Minho, him, preferred staying home all day and hunt for a huge amount of blood two or three nights per week instead of small quantities every night. What he didn’t stop, though, was going to cafés and spending _way too much money_ on his addiction.

“ _Are you still drinking that stuff?_ ” Chan once asked, ten years into living with Minho.

“ _I am, why? Do you have a problem with that?_ ” Minho retorted, annoyed.

“ _How many cups did you drink today?_ ”

“ _Seven, why?_ ” Minho growled, to which Chan only sighed and left.

Minho knew Chan wasn’t fond of his addiction, but why would he stop? It wasn’t like he was his family. They were just roommate, nothing more. They wouldn’t even be considered friends, would they?

Fifteen years since Minho ran away from home. It took this much time for his father to hunt him down and come crashing in Chan’s apartment to beat the hell out of his son. “ _Come back home and marry this girl again_ ,” he angrily said as he broke his son’s arm. “ _Her family wants to break our pact because of your unfilthy preferences_ ,” he continued. Minho started crying. He cried as he let his father break his bones and cut his flesh. He was ready to beg him to stop and accept to come home, when Chan entered the room and pushed his father off of him.

At first, Minho got angry at Chan for hurting his father and making him leave. But then, he understood the boy’s action and grew closer to him. He trusted him and shared his story.

“ _My father got turned after he made a pact with the devil, he’s a 1 st generation. He married my mom and they got me, 115 years ago or something_.” He chuckled as he tried to remember how old he was. “ _I never really was interested in the studies my father forced onto me, except for vampire studies. It was fun to learn about us, it helped me know who I was._ ” He then continued, telling about his family, the other pure bloods, his marriage, his addiction, everything until now. Chan simply hugged him, patting his back softly as he rocked him back and forth, telling him _everything will be ok, I’ll stay with you_.

“ _What about you?_ ” Minho said, a few minutes later, laying down on their couch, his head on the older’s lap.

“ _Well I—Like I told you, I’m from another country. In the South. I grew up in a bigger family than yours, with a brother and a sister. I made a pact with the devil when I was 23 years old,_ ” he said, omitting a lot of details. “ _I travelled the whole country and stayed in a big city for centuries, until a vampire turned his back on me, and I left with a sailor or whatever they actually were._ ” He shuddered, remembering the old vampire standing up after being shot in the chest.

“ _That’s how you ended up here, I see… Well, Chan, I’m glad you did._ ” Minho concluded, a bright smile on his face. Chan smiled back, caressing his hair gently.

Half of a century had passed; the two vampires were _like family_. Minho wasn’t afraid to say it, Chan was a bit reluctant. The younger vampire didn’t question it, he knew the other considered him as a close friend and didn’t need any label to be reassured. They had each other’s back, hunt for each other sometimes, with each other even, they’d even share their food if it was necessary.

Some rumours got spread in the pure blood families that Minho had ran away from his marriage to be with Chan, that they were secret lovers and shared a bed. His father was the one who spread the rumour first, ashamed that he had lost a battle against Chan—which only his opponent and his son knew. Minho tried to ignore the rumour, when it got to his ear. Yet, the thought couldn’t stop from invading his mind. _Could Chan and I?_ he kept on thinking, until he decided to deal with this and get over it.

One day, Minho woke Chan up by straddling him. The older boy woke up with a start, staring at his friend, “ _What the hell are you doing?_ ” Minho smirked, hovering over the boy, “ _I need to get something out of my mind or I’m going nuts. Do you trust me?_ ” Chan stared inside of Minho’s sparkling eyes. He gulped, but nodded, nonetheless. Minho smirked once again and leaned in. He closed his eyes as he captured Chan’s lips with his. It wasn’t his first kiss, nor was it the first time he kissed a boy. Yet, it was his first-time kissing Chan, or doing anything that was not purely platonic or with no motive behind.

Chan’s hand circled his waist, pulling him closer. His eyes were closed, lips slightly opened as he let Minho leading the kiss. The younger’s tongue made its way into his wet and hot mouth, dancing around its peer. Hot breath came out of their noses, Minho’s small hand caressing Chan’s cheek.

They finally broke their kiss, Minho leaning back a little. “ _You took my first kiss, you brat!_ ” Chan laughed. “ _What?_ ” the younger vampire suddenly got up, leaving the other’s bed in a hurry. “ _What do you mean your first kiss? You’re three-hundred-fucking years old!_ ” Minho was bewildered, embarrassed, and every emotion between them. Chan simply laughed, sitting in the middle of his bed, “ _I never kissed anyone because I never really got that close to anyone,_ ” he explained.

That kiss, though unexpected for one side, was the proof that none of them liked the other _in that way_. It eased Minho’s mind, and made a fun memory for Chan.

1875, Minho was 177 years old, Chan was 382 years old. They had moved to a bigger apartment a few decades ago and lived a happy life just the two of them. It went all fine until another one got added to their household.

Chan, feeling like some saviour of some kind, took a young vampire under his wing. “ _He’s 20, he’s been a vampire for not even 11 years. He clearly needs guidance!_ ” he had argued when Minho refused access to the apartment to the new boy. “ _I don’t care if he needs guidance! Let him go to his parents for that!_ ” That is when the new vampire spoke up, small trembling voice contrasting with his height—he was towering over both Chan and Minho, “ _My parents are dead, I’m not a pure blood like you._ ”


	3. Last way of being cursed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Hwang Hyunjin, and let him tell you his story.

1864, it was Hyunjin’s 20th birthday. Hwang Hyunjin, son of a middle-class family. His parents had worked relentlessly to get him a big birthday cake and a decent present. He only had one, but it was the present he had always dreamt of; a copy of _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ by Lewis Carroll. It had cost a fortune as it was imported from Europe. Hyunjin was more than thankful for his parents, treasuring the book like the apple of his eye.

This book, it was all he had left from his family. After eating the cake and opening his present, his parents said they were going to eat dinner to a small restaurant—it was rare for them to eat out so Hyunjin put on his prettiest clothes. They walked to the restaurant while holding each other’s arms, laughing happily. The food was amazing—not that Hyunjin’s mother wasn’t a great cook—and Hyunjin was the happiest in the world at that moment. When they had exited the restaurant, it was already dark outside. Walking in dark streets with no lights on, he only heard his mother’s scream as she was dragged to an alleyway. Him and his father ran after her, yet they fell face to face with a tall being, fangs in his mouth and glowing eyes. He saw his mother getting drained out of her blood. His father tried to fight the monster but ended up as dead as his mother, neck broken in one go. Hyunjin was frozen on his spot, arms dangling on his side as he stared at his now dead parents. He had his book in the inside pocket of his jacket, in one movement he hugged it tightly against his chest, through his jacket, tears rolling down his face as he screamed with fear. He doesn’t really remember what happened next, except for the monster jumping on him, nails digging in the flesh of his neck and fangs going right into it. He had pushed the monster with both of his hands, they both fell on the floor. After that, it was like darkness clouded his eyes and mind. He remembers fighting with all his might but losing. Lying on the dirty floor of the alleyway between both of his parents, drained out of his blood, bones broken, head spinning, legs numb. Everything ached yet there was this one thing bugging him. He had blood in his mouth, and he doesn’t remember what had happened, but it wasn’t his blood. It tasted different than his blood—he had tasted his own when he was a kid, like probably everyone else whenever he had a papercut, he used to suck on the small cut to make it heal. He stared at the night sky, hugging his book tightly, despite the pain in his arms, as he felt like it was his last moment. But it was not.

He felt his broken bones heal, his blood boil until he was all healed, his teeth hurting like hell and getting longer before returning to their original size, the same happening to his nails. He felt himself becoming the monster that had killed his parents, and the only thing he could do about it was cry his heart out as he hugged his _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ book.

The first three months were _fine_. He stayed in his parents’ apartment and starved himself. He wanted to die. He did not. He felt weaker and weaker, slower whenever he moved, but even after a full month of starving, he did not die. He had simply gone nuts. Whenever he heard a noise, he screamed. Whenever someone knocked on the door, he screamed. Until one day, the landlady came inside to reclaim the rent, and he killed her. He jumped on her, breathing loudly as he drained her from her own blood. She didn’t scream, nor did she make a noise. He felt lighter once he had drunk her blood, yet it wasn’t enough. The door was opened, he left the apartment and ran in the streets, blood running down from his mouth, fangs and nails out, eyes glowing red. Everyone screamed when they saw him, he attacked a few of them, drank their blood and continued to walk as if nothing had happened. Once he had calmed down, he went back to his parents’ apartment and fell asleep on his bed, not waking up for almost a week.

Words quickly spread around the neighbourhood and he was forced to leave. He took his precious book and left with nothing else but that. Not knowing where to go, he simply strayed in the streets. Unluckily—or luckily, who knows—he met with the vampire that had accidentally turned him into one. He knew it was him, because his entire soul started to shiver when he saw him. He felt some strange attraction towards this man, as if he owned him his life. Yet, the memory of his dead parents clouded his sudden love to be replaced with his vengeful and hateful mind. “ _You… I’m gonna kill you!_ ” he screamed as he ran towards the old man. The vampire didn’t even flinch as he lifted his arm up and held Hyunjin by the throat, staring right into his eyes, “ _Who are you?_ ” It made Hyunjin’s soul boil with anger. “ _Oh right, you’re that kid!_ ” the vampire laughed, remembering the boy’s parents’ death, or maybe he remembered Hyunjin, maybe he simply recognized him as his creation.

Reluctantly, but also not really, he followed the vampire to his house. What could go wrong, now that he was one of them? He walked in silence behind the old man, listening to him rant about _vampires and his family_. In two hours, Hyunjin had learned everything there was to know about vampires—or everything he _needed_ to know. He learned about 1st generation, 2nd generation, half-blood, turned vampires. He learned about the vampires’ abilities. He learned that the vampire in front of him was a 1st generation, and that him being turned by one made him a _fake_ 2nd generation. “ _It’s pretty rare, actually. Your blood, mh. You may have had some vampires in your lineage, your blood smells so strong, it smells like my son’s,_ ” the vampire had said in a thoughtful tone.

Hyunjin was in awe as he entered the big mansion, looking around, he hugged his book a bit tighter as he felt smaller and smaller in this wealthy world. They took a few turns and ended up in a living-room—or what seemed like one. The old vampire sat on a big armchair, motioning Hyunjin to sit on the couch opposite him; which he did as he was clearly afraid of the man, yet also blindly devoted.

“ _You see, my son ran away centuries ago_ ,” the old man started, pointing towards a painting of his family—his son was in the middle. “ _He divorced his wife, claimed nonsense and left. He now lives a depraved life with a man. But we have rules in here, reputation to keep. And you. You’re special, kid_ ,” he continued, leaning a bit towards Hyunjin as he stared at him—at his soul, even. “ _You’ve been a vampire for less than a year, and still, you smell so strongly. I’m sure you’re meant for this. That is why I have an offer to make,_ ” he pursued, stopping for a moment when a maid— _was it one?_ —entered and served them tea.

“ _What offer?_ ” Hyunjin finally said, his voice weak and almost inaudible.

“ _Lie about your age, and fake being my illegitimate son._ ”

“ _What?_ ” the younger said in a high-pitched voice.

“ _You heard me. I need to regain trust from my peers, and you look made for it_. _Also, you are technically my son, now. I turned you._ ”

Hyunjin pondered the thought for a few moments, and slowly nodded his head, lowering it when the old vampire walked towards him, patting his head with no affection. He doesn’t know what made him accept the deal, maybe the strong tug of blind loyalty he felt in himself whenever the vampire talked.

That’s how Hyunjin lived ten years in Minho’s feet. He went to fancy parties, got fancy clothes, ate luxurious blood. He learned about vampires every day. Yet, he didn’t feel as happy as when he lived his human life with his parents. He wasn’t loved by his adoptive parents, nor was he appreciated by the other vampires; “ _You’re illegitimate anyway, what are you even worth?_ ” they always said. Ten years was all he could bare. He ran away, just like Minho did. He took his precious book, only remaining memory of his past life, and he ran away.

A year later, he met Chan in an alleyway. He was sitting where his parents’ corpse used to be, crying as he hugged his book—over the years, he had read it a thousand times, yet he couldn’t leave it. Chan had approached him, softly putting his hand over the crying boy’s shoulder, “ _Are you ok?_ ”

It took him five hours to stop crying and trust Chan enough to briefly explain what had happened. It took less than a second for Chan to tell him he’ll protect him. Hyunjin knew who Chan was right when he saw him, firstly because he had this strong smell of vampires, secondly because his _father_ had described him as the man _his son had runaway with_. It wasn’t hard to trust Chan, not because he felt a sense of loyalty towards him, but because he was genuine in his words.

They walked to Chan’s apartment, the older boy promising him a happy life from now on. However, once the door opened, they got face to face with an unhappy Minho who refused to get another person in his life. Hyunjin, right when he saw Minho’s face, knew who he was. He had seen his face on paintings, in that one big mansion. He had heard stories about him, from his _father_ , his _mother_ , from his _ex-wife_ and from old _friends_. He knew everything there was to know about Minho’s life, yet there he was, standing in front of him, looking nothing like he had imagined.

In his past life, Minho had looked intimidating, just like his father. Soulless. Whereas now, he looked happy. He seemed joyful and full of life—as much as a dead person could be.

“ _My parents are dead, I’m not a pure blood like you._ ” Hyunjin had said in a weak voice after Minho suggested returning him to his parents— _like a package_. It had made Minho look straight into his eyes, Hyunjin shivered.

“ _What do you even know about me?_ ” the older snapped right back.

“ _Your father turned me. He made me live in your stead_ ,” the younger said.

Those words made Minho turn into stone, staring at the boy up and down, jaw clenched at the mention of his father. Had Chan not been there, Hyunjin would have probably ended up in a fight with Minho right here right there—and he most surely would have lost.

Chan had yelled for the first time since him and Minho lived together. He had used his authority for the very first time and, even if it had worked, it had damaged their friendship a bit. “ _He **will** stay, and you **won’t** say a word!_” he had yelled at Minho. This is how Hyunjin got to stay in their apartment. He got his own room, a designated place at their shared table, and cold stares from Minho.

Hyunjin didn’t feel happy, at first. He felt safe around Chan, unsafe around Minho. He never went outside of his bedroom, kept on crying while hugging his book, refused to drink blood unless he started to go nuts again. It was painful to watch, even for Minho. The vampire may have been dead inside, he wasn’t soulless. He still had remorse.

It had been hard for Minho to forgive Chan, and the older was not expecting him to forgive him that easily—he had seen the fright in Minho’s eyes and the way he had flinched when he had raised his voice, memories of his father beating him had probably resurfaced in his mind. Chan felt bad, horribly bad, yet he did not regret allowing Hyunjin to stay in their apartment. Chan’s days were newly organized; he went to work in the morning, came home _during lunch_ to talk with Hyunjin, then he went back to work and once his _normal life_ was over, he hunted and kept some blood in small bags he bought in an illegal market to put it in their small fridge—for both Minho and Hyunjin. Then, every night, he went to Minho’s room and tried to have a talk with him. He did not want their friendship to end on that, so he kept trying and trying and trying until one day Minho got fed up and accepted to talk.

Their talk had unexpectedly ended up with the both of them platonically kissing. Hyunjin, who had heard the two older boys yell a few minutes before it all went silent, had knocked on Minho’s bedroom door; “ _Is—Is everything ok in here?_ ” No answer, he took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. He yelped when he saw the two olders kissing, now remembering the words Minho’s father had said; “ _He now lives a depraved life with a man._ ”

Hyunjin had left the door open as he ran to his own room, hiding under his duvet like a child who had just saw his parents doing something unfaithful. Chan, always on alert for noises, broke the kiss and turn his head towards the door, seeing Hyunjin’s shadow as he had left. The older man sighed, “ _I’ll be right back_.” However, Minho took his hand and forced him to stay seated, “ _I’ll go_.” He then left his room to knock on the younger’s door.

“ _I’m not here_ ,” Hyunjin whispered.

“ _Clearly, no one’s in Hyunjin’s room_ ,” Minho said in a faked pensive tone. “ _Well, I’ll just sit on his bed and wait for him_ ,” as he talked, he walked towards the younger’s bed and sat right next to the boy’s body. “ _It’s such a shame that Hyunjin’s not here, if he was, I could’ve told him that what he saw had literally no meaning_ ,” he continued in his fake tone. “ _I mean, who would even date Chan. The man’s almost as old as my father and has seen almost the entire world yet he never kissed anyone beside me?_ ” Minho scoffed, chuckling as he remembered their first kiss, and the countless of platonic ones they had shared over the years. It somehow had become a habit between them, to show each other that they cared about them—Chan also used it as emotional blackmail; “ _If you drink less than five coffees today, I’ll kiss you_.”

Hyunjin was still hiding under his duvet, listening to Minho’s words. At some point, he felt like Minho had forgotten he was even there.

“ _Well, sure, Chan’s cute and stuff… Wait, why was I saying that? Oh, yeah. I wish Hyunjin was there so I could tell him that—_ ”

“ _You two really aren’t dating?_ ” Hyunjin finally said, head outside of the duvet. He looked at Minho with big round eyes.

“ _No, we are not. It’s just—It’s purely platonic. I’m sure he’d do the same with you if you just asked_ ,” Minho ended with a wink towards the younger vampire, leaving his room.

Hyunjin stayed on his bed, staring at the door with red cheeks. Suddenly, he exited the room and ran towards Minho. “ _I haven’t kissed anyone either, so don’t make fun of him for that!_ ” he said, holding the older’s sleeve in his hand. When Minho turned towards him, he immediately released his sleeve. “ _Are you telling me this to get a kiss or?_ ” the older chuckled, leaving after he saw how red the younger was.

This was all it took for Minho to both forgive Chan and accept Hyunjin. The atmosphere in their shared apartment was lighter with the years, to the point where Hyunjin felt happy for the first time in a decade. He didn’t hide it. He got out of his room and hugged the two older boys, whispering a _thank you_ and a _I’m so happy_ right in their ears before opening the fridge and drinking a blood bag Chan had collected the day before. It had made the two older vampires smile, feeling proud and content with themselves.

Hyunjin was still a young and new vampire, he needed to learn how to control his powers, his thirst and everything else. Minho’s father was more of a _you need to do what I say_ kind of person, whereas Chan wanted Hyunjin to find his true self and accept who he was; “ _I haven’t been turned by a vampire, so I don’t know how it feels like. But I know how hard it was to know you’re not who you used to be. Minho has always been that way, not us. I know it’s hard to look at yourself in the mirror and not see your past self, but I’ll be there for you until you find who you are_ ,” he had reassuringly said. It was not much, yet his words helped Hyunjin a lot. Every time he found himself lost, he thought back to what Chan always said, and slowly found his path back.

He did not follow proper classes, with a teacher and all of that fancy stuff. Nevertheless, in less than five years, he managed to control his power—he did not have Chan’s super speed, nor Minho’s super strength, he had this rare ability to see further than anyone else. It was weird at first, turned vampires weren’t supposed to be _this strong_ , yet Hyunjin was. He was always close to Minho’s strength or Chan’s speed—never enough to outdo them, yet close enough to make them nervous. He also learned how to hunt, which was useful the days Chan got hold back at work. They became _family_ , and once again, Chan was the only one who got his tongue burned by the words. Yet they knew, they knew how much he cared for them.

1897, Hyunjin lived with them for 22 years—longer than he lived as a human. Every now and then, he felt sadness when reminiscing his old life. Chan and Minho were always there to hug him tight and pat his back affectionately.

It was also the year that started their hell. Sure, it was easier for vampires to hunt now that _Dracula_ had made its appearance. One day, a vampire had gone nuts—the same way Hyunjin had been after starving himself for months—and ended up in the middle of the street, ready to kill anyone, nails and fangs out. This time, contrary to what Hyunjin experienced, people cooed at him. It was all new for every vampire; going outside and not being feared. Even when hunting, people did not scream anymore, they rather asked to touch their fangs or to get turned. It was weird, so weird. It sounds idyllic, though.

It was. It was, until Minho’s father took this _vampire free city_ to hunt down Chan. He needed to have his revenge. He felt humiliated, and his only goal was to kill Chan—he’d take great pleasure if Minho was watching, and probably if Hyunjin was too.

It didn’t take long for Minho’s ex-family and ex-friends to find him, to find Chan, to find Hyunjin, to hunt them. So, they ran away. Once again, they left their lives and ran away to another city, seeking peace before easy access to food.

A big bag on each of their shoulder, they headed north. Three days later, they settled in a city named _Kaesong_. It wasn’t a pretty city, nor was it big. It was just far enough from their old place yet welcoming enough to settle down. And just like this, they started new lives once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I /know/ that Alice in Wonderland came out in 1865. But there's enough historical inaccuracies to accept this one anyway lmao


	4. A new life.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally settled in, ready for a new life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// mention of war (nothing explicit)
> 
> It's a short chapter, I'm sorry :D

They had found an empty house right next to the city centre, with three bedrooms and a big living-room. Happily, Minho claimed the biggest room as his own. Chan and Hyunjin were amazed at how easily the boy accepted their new lives—it was only a facade though they did not know that. Still, they let him take the room and had fairly tossed a coin to see who had the second biggest room. Hyunjin got it, so Chan took his bag and entered the smallest room of the three, sitting on the already here bed and sighed.

Starting a new life wasn’t that hard, especially for Chan who had done it a few times already. So, he walked around the city, quickly spotting the places where it’ll be the easiest to hunt. He also walked in search for a new job, getting to know the city and its inhabitants. Hyunjin often came with Chan to walk around town, needing fresh air to get over this sudden change of life. He had always lived in the same city; it was all new to him. Even if him and Minho were on good terms now, he still felt safer around Chan—it was actually the same for Minho, Chan had this safe aura surrounding him; they trusted him blindly for some reason Chan didn’t even knew of. Not that it annoyed him, quite the contrary, he just didn’t know why they had so much faith in him when he could barely face himself in the mirror without remembering the frightened face of his little sister right before he jumped on her—did she even made this face? Wasn’t it just his mind tricking him? He did not know, nor wanted to know. He just couldn’t stop thinking about it and hating himself for it.

Shaking his head sideways, he got up from his bed. It was around 9am, according to the clock hung on the wall opposite his bed. He walked towards his dresser, putting some black pants and black shirt on before exiting his bedroom. “ _Where are you going?_ ” he heard Hyunjin say. “ _Gonna find a job, I’ll be back in a few._ ” And just like that, he left their shared apartment to _find a job_.

Hyunjin was alone with Minho, despite being on good terms, it was probably the first time it had happened since they lived together. Minho was always home, Hyunjin always found an excuse to either stay in his room or go outside—with Chan. However, this time, he was in the kitchen drinking some blood when Minho got out of his bedroom. They fell face to face, awkwardness in the air. Minho chuckled softly, grabbing the younger’s half-empty blood bag, “ _Are you avoiding me?_ ” he nonchalantly asked. “ _I—No! Why woul—No! I’m not!_ ” the youngest answered, holding his hands up in the air. “ _So, you are._ ” The oldest of them both put the empty blood bag back in its owner’s hands and exited the room, a smile on his face. Hyunjin didn’t know the meaning behind that smile, yet it made him suffer from the inside.

He put the blood bag in the trash bin and ran after Minho, taking the boy’s sleeve in his hands. “ _I’m not avoiding you; I swear! I’m just—_ ”

“ _Uncomfortable? Disgusted? You’re just what?_ ” The oldest said in a low voice, turning towards the youngest and making him release his hold on his sleeve. His eyes were darker, smaller, he wasn’t smiling anymore. Hyunjin lowered his head. “ _I thought we were ok, that we were all three a family. I thought everything was fine, yet you can’t even look at me in the eyes!_ ”

At these words, the youngest looked up and was met with the stern face of his roommate. “ _I’m scared of you_ ,” he finally said in a whisper. It took Minho by surprise.

“ _I’d never hurt you, Hyunjin. You’re—You’re like my little brother. I thought you knew_.”

When Chan got home, that day, he found the two younger boys cuddled up on their couch. It surprised him, in a good way. Chuckling to himself, he put the blood bags he had collected in their fridge and jumped on the couch, laying down on top of the two boys. They all laughed, hugging each other tight.

1900\. The 5th century Chan welcomed, Minho’s 3rd, and Hyunjin’s 1st. Chan was, as always, very passive about it. Minho, him, was excited and jumping everywhere. As for Hyunjin, he was scared. The last night of the 19th century, he spent it hiding in his room, clutched to his _Alice in Wonderland_ book. The two older boys knocked on his door and entered, sitting on each of his side to hug him. He still hugged his book, yet he let himself be hugged as the clock ringed midnight, and the start of a new century.

It made their bond even tighter than what it was. It made them become a real family—even more than what they looked like before. Often, their neighbours would refer to one of them as “ _their brother_ ” and it made them smile. None of them had the same last name, yet no one questioned it and believed they were _related_. Well, they did everything a _normal_ family did.

Sitting on their couch, Hyunjin in the middle, they were laughing loudly at each story one of them was telling.

“ _Remember when you went hunting for the first time?_ ” Chan said, nudging Hyunjin softly. The younger hid his face in his hands as he grunted. “ _You screamed when you saw blood, hiding behind me. Even the poor dog looked at you_ ,” and they laughed again.

“ _Chan, can I—Can I ask you something?_ ” the youngest suddenly said once everyone had calm down.

“ _Mm, sure?_ ”

“ _How was it, when you got turned?_ ”

Chan looked at the two younger boys who were eager to know. They knew that Chan got killed by a horse, that he made a deal with the Devil and resurrected. Yet, they know nothing about _how it was_ , and all the details of his life. They did not know about his little sister, about his family chasing him, about his hometown casting him out like a stray animal. They knew nothing about Chan’s life, actually.

“ _I mean, you told us you wanted to save your family. That’s why you made the deal. How did they react?_ ” Hyunjin pursued as Chan was still staring at them but saying nothing.

Holding his tears inside of him, trying to not let himself reminisce his family’s face, he forced a smile on his face as he answered: “ _Nothing much, it’s not like I really knew what I was either. They died of natural cause, I mean—they were human, they were old. They died. So, I left._ ” It wasn’t entirely false, yet not completely true either.

They went back to sharing stories and laughing, yet Chan was far from laughing, stuck in his memories of his past self. Stuck as Christopher Bang, 23 years old human.

At first, the 20th century was fun. Everything was new, inventions came almost every day. But then, came the war. 4 years of intense war that made them starve. They did not fear for their life—it’s not like they could die anyway—it made them fear for their sanity. A few years before the war, their country got taken over by the Japanese. Since then, rules were set among them to stay safe and hidden.

As the oldest, Chan was the only one getting out of the apartment to hunt. Minho came once, however when they got home and found a sobbing Hyunjin on his bed, they decided that he wasn’t to be left alone until the war was over.

After the war, they tried to go back to their old lives. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Hyunjin feared staying alone and Minho craved going outside. It was a total change, even for Chan who was used to see the role inversed.

“ _Where are you going?_ ” Chan suddenly said, looking at Minho from the corner of his eye, not leaving his couch.

“ _On a walk, can’t I?_ ”

“ _Be careful_ ,” the oldest simply said as he went back to his previous task.

“ _It’s 1928, it’s been 10 years. Everything’s fine._ ” And the vampire left.

“ _He’ll be ok, right?_ ” Hyunjin, who was sitting on the floor next to Chan’s legs, said in a soft voice.

“ _He will, don’t worry_ ,” Chan reassured him, caressing his hair with his free hand.

When he finally got home—five hours later—there was some undecipherable expression on his face. None of them got the time to ask if anything had happened that the boy locked himself in his bedroom. They shrugged it off, thinking that maybe he had found another vampire during his walk.

The next day, Minho left again for a few hours and came home with the same grin on his face. And the day after, and after, and after, until Chan decided to follow him. He knew Hyunjin didn’t like being alone, yet he asked him if it was ok to _stay alone for a moment_. They were both worried about Minho’s suddenly odd behaviour so the youngest took it on himself and stayed alone for an hour, reading _Alice in Wonderland_ to gain strength—how little did it do, it actually helped him a lot and nobody questioned it.

Chan was far more silent than Minho, so it wasn’t hard to follow him without getting noticed. Hiding behind almost every wall, the oldest kept tag on his friend, following him from alleys to alleys, wondering where he was going.

The more they went in the middle of the city, the more anxious Chan felt. What was Minho doing in here? He had asked him to stay safe, so why was the boy going in the most crowded place?

Chan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a moment. It was all it took for him to lose the boy in the crowd. Panicking a bit, he ran and looked everywhere, searching for his friend in the crowded city.

In the middle of the street, Chan turned on himself, scanning the area. And, finally, after almost half an hour, he found him. Inside of a flower shop, there he was, the boy he was looking for. He walked towards the shop, looking through the big window, ready to walk in and ask for an explanation. That’s when he saw that Minho wasn’t alone.


	5. I'm happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It doesn't take long for Minho to find happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an emotional rollercoaster that took me 5 hours and 10 cups of coffee. Enjoy :)  
> (don't yell at me i'm sensitive)

Minho entered the flower shop, nervousness in his entire body as he walked towards one of the workers. “ _Hi,_ ” the boy said in a cheerful tone. “ _Will you buy flowers this time?_ ” Pink dust raising to Minho’s cheeks, he nodded and pointed his finger towards some pink roses. He didn’t trust his voice yet, so he relied on his hand to pass his message. The florist smiled, whispering a soft _cute_ to himself before getting out of his stool and walking towards the roses. “ _How many?_ ” he asked without looking at his customer. Minho stayed behind him, looking at his back, his arms, his neck, his soft hair. He sighed, not answering the florist. It made the other chuckle as he turned around to look at him, “ _How many, mister?_ ” Blinking, Minho scratched his temple with his index finger. “ _How many to mean ‘I like you’?_ ” his voice broke a little.

The florist turned back to his flowers. He took one rose in his left hand, three in his right one. “ _Do you know that person?_ ” Minho shook his head no. The florist then handed him the single rose, putting the three other ones back in their pot. The older boy took the flower, blinking again as he followed the florist back to the counter. “ _Is it to offer? I guess it is_ ,” the florist took the flower back and started to wrap it nicely. “ _Do you know that person’s name? So that I can write it on a card_.” Minho gulped, answering a soft voice, “ _What’s yours?_ ”

Chan was still outside of the flower shop, looking as Minho was handing a single pink rose to another man. He could see the boy blushing all the way from here. Confused, but mostly not understanding the situation, he waited for the other vampire to get out of the shop.

“ _What were you doing?_ ” Chan whispered in Minho’s ear right when he had exited the shop. It made the latter jump with fright, a small yelp escaping his mouth. “ _What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Hyunjin? Did you follow me?_ ” he said in a hurry, trying to regain composure. The older boy laughed, circling his waist with his arm, “ _Were you flirting with that boy?_ ” Minho didn’t answer, but his red cheeks gave his answer away.

Every day, Minho went out to see his florist boy. Every day, he bought him a pink rose. The florist always laughed it off, thanked him, and went back to work. The vampire didn’t know what to do, to make him understand he wasn’t joking.

One day, frustrated, Minho went to a café. He hadn’t been to one in years, decades maybe. He had settled for the coffee he had at home so that he could stay with Hyunjin. This time, he took great pleasure to enjoy a freshly brewed coffee, only made for him. He stayed there for two hours, asking for another cup every time his was empty. Two hours later, he left and walked in front of the flower shop on his way home. He looked at the florist, smiling a bit.

The next day, at his surprise, the florist asked him _where he was the day before_. Confused, Minho mumbled. It made the other laughed, “ _You didn’t come, I thought something had happened_.” It made the vampire smile.

It took around two months of Minho constantly going out for Chan to speak up about it. They were all sitting on their couch, Hyunjin was eating some chips—he may be a vampire, his human’s memory of normal food was still there, and he enjoyed eating some from time to time. Chan looked at the vampire on his left, softly grabbing his wrist, “ _I need you to stop going outside every day_.” He had said it in the softest voice he could, not to anger his friend. It was to no avail, as the vampire got up and looked at him in the eyes, “ _Why?_ ”

Hyunjin, who was still eating, stopped when the two boys were standing up facing each other, voices raised after each word. He didn’t know what Minho was doing outside—Chan never told him, nor did Minho—so, he didn’t know the reason of all this fuss. Yet, when they started to yell at each other, threatening to fight, Hyunjin started to shake. “ _Please, stop yelling_ ,” he said in a whisper. No one heard him. They continued to yell. Curling up on himself, he kept on pleading them to stop yelling. It’s only when a sob got loud enough that they both stopped to look at the youngest. “ _Hyunjin?_ ” their voices echoed in the boy’s head as he hugged his legs tighter and cried harder, “ _stop yelling, please, please stop_ ,” he kept on repeating.

Maybe because he felt bad for making Hyunjin cried, or maybe because he had gotten scared of Chan when he had threatened him to fight the first time, Minho agreed to stay home more. He agreed to spend more time with Hyunjin and to stop being selfish. It actually helped, as when he finally got allowed to go outside three weeks later, the florist looked more than happy to see him again.

A year, this is all the time it took for the vampire to finally get a date with his human crush. He wasn’t afraid to say it, he had fallen at first sight for the boy. He had met him purely by accident. Walking around town for what was probably the first time, looking for a café, he had gotten lost and ended up in front of the flower shop. Looking inside, he saw the boy working. He didn’t look older than Hyunjin, yet he was already working hard. It enthralled him, that’s how he ended up staring at the boy for hours. Once he had mustered all of his courage, he entered the shop. The florist greeted him with a smile, it made him froze on the spot. Seeing the boy through a window and finally seeing him in front of him—hearing his voice, even—was two things completely different. Overwhelmed, the vampire left the shop in a hurry. The following days, he entered the shop, looked around, and left. The florist never really complained about it. The day Chan had caught him by surprise, it was his first time talking to the florist—really, talking to him.

It was already 1929 when Minho came to pick up the florist and go _on their date_. It made him shiver inside, thinking back to it. “ _Minho, I’m right here!_ ” the florist said, waving his hand with a bright smile on his face. The vampire turned around and was met with his date wearing a fairly new suit. “ _Jisung_ …” he whispered, dumbstruck. The florist laughed, walking towards the older one. “ _You can close your mouth; I accept the compliment. You’re quite handsome yourself_ ,” he laughed before looping his arm with Minho’s.

It wasn’t hard to notice that Jisung made Minho happy. Usually a bit grumpy in the morning, and reluctant to go outside, Minho was now cheerful and eager to go outside. Hyunjin still didn’t know why, and Chan had promised to keep it a secret. It was the night after his first date; Minho had gotten home with a bit of wine in his blood, dizzy he stumbled onto every wall. Chan hugged him and helped him to his room, asking what had happened. “ _I’m in love_ ,” the vampire had said, a dumb smile plastered on his face. The oldest wanted to yell at him, to be more careful, to not get caught and to stay safe. Yet, the smile on the younger vampire dissuaded him. He simply kissed his forehead and tucked him to bed, “ _Don’t tell Hyunjin_ ” he had whispered before falling asleep. Despite not being heard, he still had promised to keep it to himself. And just that he did.

Hyunjin had to found by himself. All these years, he had stayed inside. The few times he went outside, was with Chan. He was always clutched to the oldest, jumping a bit at every noise. He might have been the most fearful vampire ever. Chan never said anything about it. “ _It’s ok to be scared. It’s not because you’re powerful that you should be fearless_ ,” he always told Hyunjin. “ _I’ll protect you_.” Those words helped Hyunjin sleep at night. One day, Minho stayed inside while Chan was hunting. It wasn’t uncommon, however this time Hyunjin sat next to him and asked him questions that kept clogging his mind. “ _Why don’t you and Chan kiss anymore?_ ” It made the older choked on air. “ _What?_ ”

“ _You two used to kiss almost every day for everything. You don’t anymore. Are you two fighting?_ ” suddenly regretting his question, Hyunjin’s voice got lower and lower at every word.

“ _Wh—No, we’re not. We’re—It’s just that—Well, you see_ —” the oldest stopped talking to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“ _It’s ok. But if you two were on bad terms, you’d told me, right? I’m sorry for—you know, last time? I’m really sorry, I didn’t want to cry it just—_ ”

“ _We were at fault_ ,” Minho hurriedly said, taking the boy’s hand in his. “ _You do not have to apologize for anything. And I promise you, we are not on bad terms. We just agreed to—how can I say. To stop, doing that. Because I—_ ” a deep breath. “ _I’m seeing someone_.”

Hyunjin was not expecting that. It was so unexpected, that he did not believe it. He was sure it was all an excuse to not tell him they were on bad terms, so he wouldn’t feel bad every time he asked to cuddle—all three of them.

“ _What do you think about going hunting, all three of us?_ ” Chan suddenly said one night. It was surprising. They hadn’t hunt together since 1897. The idea made Hyunjin jump up and down, excited. Minho accepted with a smile, taking the two boys’ hands in his as they left their shared apartment.

What they did not excepted, though, was for Jisung to recognize Minho mid-hunt. They were chasing a burglar who had just ran away from a bank. Chan was running after him, Hyunjin was tailing him and Minho was walking was behind them, knowing his role would simply to punch the guy once in the face and wait for his turn to feed on him. However, they all three stopped on their track when they heard a “ _Minho?_ ” coming from a passer-by.

Minho turned towards the boy, nails and fangs going back to their normal size when he recognized Jisung. “ _Wh—What are you doing here?_ ” he muttered as he walked towards the florist. “ _You, what are you doing here?_ ” The younger boy smiled brightly, taking both of the vampire’s hands in his. Hyunjin and Chan went back to their human form too, walking towards the two lovers. They stopped right behind Minho. “ _So, you are Jisung?_ ” Chan’s voice was a bit stern; it made the florist shiver as he nodded. Minho turned towards his two friends, mouthing a _please, be nice_. Hyunjin was speechless, _Minho was really seeing someone_.

January 1st, 1930. Minho was sitting on a blanket in a park next to Jisung, holding his hand softly. The younger boy was playing with the grass, staring at the night sky. “ _Happy new year_ ,” Minho whispered. The florist chuckled, turning to face the older boy, his free hand softly taking his chin, “ _Can I kiss you?_ ” The vampire stared at the boy’s eyes as he nodded. A few seconds later, he felt the florist’s soft lips against his. He circled the boy’s waist, holding him close against his chest, kissing him softly. This is how they started dating.

Calling Jisung his _boyfriend_ was weird at first—mostly because he was 232 years older than him. To Jisung, Minho was a 22 years old boy living on his own with two friends. He knew that lying wasn’t the right thing to do, yet he couldn’t tell him the truth.

A few weeks later, Minho invited Jisung over, to _properly_ meet Chan and Hyunjin. They had, for the occasion, bought food and Chan had cooked for them. When Jisung entered their apartment, it was neatly tidied. He bowed down in front of the two boys, “ _Hi, I’m Han Jisung. Lee Minho’s boyfriend_ ,” he said in a formal tone. Hyunjin snorted, earning Chan’s elbow in his side. They were still not used to hearing Minho’s family name. It had changed a few years ago, when a sudden reform arose. From all the spelling suggested, Minho had been surprised to see the exact way Chan had pronounced it the first time they had met. Nostalgic, he chose this one.

They all sat around the table, eating Chan’s meal. The first few words were awkward. Minho tried to lighten the atmosphere with a few jokes, it only earned a “ _please, stop, you’re not funny_ ” from Hyunjin. It made Jisung laugh enough to make the awkwardness disappear from the atmosphere.

“ _So, you’re 20? And you’re already working?_ ” Hyunjin asked when they were waiting for Chan to bring the dessert.

“ _Yeah, I took my mom’s shop. My dad is in the military, and my mom, she—she can’t work anymore. So, I’m working_.” Jisung answered with a smile on his face—it didn’t reach his eyes. Minho took his hand in his. “ _And you? I mean, all three of you._ ”

“ _Well, I—I don’t work_ ,” Hyunjin awkwardly chuckled. “ _I just stay home, and I read a lot_.” It wasn’t a lie.

“ _So, you don’t work. Minho doesn’t either. I guess, Chan is the one paying for all of this?_ ” Jisung said, a bit hesitant at first in case he sounded rude.

“ _I am. I work at the library_ ,” the oldest suddenly said. No one had seen him enter the room with the cake. “ _Minho also had some money from his family, I won’t pay for his coffees_.”

“ _I never asked you to pay for it!_ ” Minho retorted in an offended tone. Jisung laughed.

“ _I’ve been telling you to cut down the coffee for ages, when will you listen to me?_ ”

“ _He really is drinking too much coffee_ ,” Jisung said, eyeing his boyfriend’s reaction—he scoffed and turned his head towards the wall, falsely sulking.

Everyone laughed, and the night went by nicely. Jisung was a nice guy, Chan felt a bit more at peace knowing that Minho wasn’t in danger with him. He spent hours looking at them being cutely lovey-dovey together. Hyunjin sat next to him, nudging him a bit, “ _I’m glad Minho found happiness_.” Chan nodded at that statement, side-hugging the youngest as they looked at the two lovers.

Even if they were happy for Minho, none of them really believed that their relationship would last more than five years. Yet, ten years later, they were still together. It would have been a happy thing to celebrate, ten years, if a second war hadn’t started. Jisung didn’t work at the flower shop anymore, and mostly stayed home with his sick mom—Minho had learned a few years ago that she got paralyzed during the first war. His father was battling up front. Still scared for Minho, Jisung went once every week to his apartment to see if he was doing ok. The three vampires felt bad for the risk he took to check on them, when they knew they couldn’t die.

In 1943, Jisung’s parents died. He came crying to the vampires’ apartment. Minho opened the door and hugged him tight, taking him to his room to hug him tightly on his bed. He didn’t ask why he was crying. He simply rocked him back and forth, caressed his back and kissed his temple until the boy fell asleep in his arms, fingers white from the tight grip he had on the boy’s shirt.

Jisung moved in. He went to his parents’ house with Chan, took all of his belongings, and moved it to Minho’s room. The vampire wasn’t too happy about it. They needed to find a way to hide their blood bags, to put rules as to not be caught. “ _You should tell him the truth!_ ” he always whisper-yelled at Minho whenever their frustration turned into anger.

1945, the war stopped for most of the world. Not for Korea. It was the moment Chan regretted choosing Kaesong as their new city. Right on the line between two ideologies, it went from _North Korea_ to _South Korea_ every two days. One day, they were the good guys, the next day they were the bad guys. They were part of South Korea for the longest. It was peaceful.

Jisung still lived with them. He helped with the chores; “ _I’m part of your family, I should help_.” Most of the times, he was the only one eating. At first, he questioned it, but soon enough he concluded that they were just eating at other times than him. He spent most of his time in Minho’s room anyway, so he wouldn’t know what they were doing.

Chan was never there, working most of the day—actually hunting, that he did not know. Hyunjin, him, just like he had told him, was mostly reading either in his room or on the couch. “ _What are you reading?_ ” he had asked one day. “ _Alice in Wonderland_ ,” the boy had answered. It was always the same book. Jisung didn’t question it.

“ _Are you happy?_ ” Minho asked, turning on his side to face Jisung. They were both lying down on his bed, it was late at night.

“ _Of course, I am. Why? Is something wrong?_ ” the younger boy softly caressed the vampire’s cheek, his eyes smiling a bit.

“ _You deserve to be the happiest in this world_ ,” Minho whispered, kissing the tip of his nose.

It made Jisung giggle, hugging his boyfriend tightly as he fell asleep.

Hyunjin and Minho had went hunting together, Chan was home with Jisung. They were both awkwardly sitting on the couch, not saying a word. It was easy to talk to Hyunjin, because they were the same age—in appearance at least. However, with Chan, it was something else. The boy was secretive and didn’t talk much. It was as if he didn’t want anything to do with Jisung. It made the boy ill-at-ease.

The two younger vampires came home an hour later, hiding the blood bags in the kitchen before joining the two other who were still silently sitting on the couch. Minho took Jisung on his lap. “ _What did you do today?_ ”

“ _Nothing_ ,” the two boys answered in unison.

“ _Mh, can we play a game?_ ” Hyunjin suggested. “ _I mean, to get to know each other. It’s not like Chan shares a lot anyway._ ”

It made the two olders stare at the vampire, arching a brow. They needed to hide their identity, yet he wanted to _share stories_? They were ready to refuse when Jisung agreed and excitedly sat back on the couch.

“ _I wanted to become a doctor when I was younger_ ,” Jisung said after Minho asked him what his childhood dream was. “ _I wanted to save people, but also to see how it looked inside_.” He chuckled. “ _What was your childhood dream, Hyunjin?_ ”

“ _I wanted—Oh wow, I don’t remember_.” He laughed a bit, scratching his temple a bit. “ _I think I wanted to own a shop. Make clothes and gift the prettiest to my mom_ ,” he sighed, thinking back to how beautiful his mother looked like. “ _And you, Minho?_ ”

“ _I wanted to become the richest man on earth_ ,” the boy answered without thinking.

“ _What? Why?_ ” his boyfriend said, curious.

“ _To be richer than my father_.”

The atmosphere got heavier at the mention of Minho’s father. The three vampires had darker eyes which made Jisung uneasy. He gulped and turned towards Chan, “ _and you?_ ”

Chan looked at the three boys, the two vampires seemed eager to know too. “ _I wanted to be free_ ,” the boy confessed. “ _I wanted to leave my hometown and be able to travel_.”

The three others nodded. Just like that, they kept on asking each other questions until they were too tired to talk.

Jisung was the first one to fall asleep, body lying on the couch, head on Minho’s lap. Hyunjin was sitting on the floor, right next to Chan’s legs. The older was sitting on their armchair. They were still talking, more freely. “ _How was it, back then?_ ” Hyunjin asked, looking at the older. “ _How was it, in your country?_ ”

“ _Hot_ ,” Chan chuckled. “ _If I have the opportunity one day, I wish to go back. To show you where I lived_.” It shocked the two other vampires. They knew that he still had opened wounds he wasn’t yet ready to share, yet this simple wish was the proof he was fond of them the same way they were of him. He wasn’t ready to share with them, yet it didn’t mean he wasn’t welcoming them in his heart. It made the two boys smile warmly as they both said they would be _glad to do so_.

“ _Are you asleep?_ ” Jisung’s voice was barely above a whisper. It was almost 2am, he didn’t want to wake up the two other boys in the apartment.

“ _I’m awake_ ,” Minho answered in a raspy voice. “ _Is everything ok?_ ” he turned his head to look at his boyfriend.

“ _I was just wondering if—_ ” he stopped to take a deep breath. “ _If you were as happy with me as I am with you_.”

The older boy chuckled, hugging him tight as he kissed the tip of his nose. “ _I am the happiest man on earth right now_.”

The former florist smiled brightly. He put his hand on the older’s cheek as he kissed his lips softly.

Staring at each other for a moment, peacefulness surrounding them, they were happy. Minho leaned in again, kissing his boyfriend’s lips again and again. Jisung’s hand went from his cheek to his hair as Minho slowly hovered over him. Their kissed deepened, more and more, the older’s hand roaming on the other’s chest. Breathing heavily, they broke their kiss to look at each other in the eyes again.

Minho was straddling Jisung, hands under the boy’s shirt, on his bare skin. Flushed cheeks on both of their faces, Minho leaned in to kiss him once again.

Soon enough, the atmosphere got hotter. Their clothes were spread around Minho’s room and the only thing that could be heard were moaning and breathing sounds.

Minho sat at the edge of his bed, caressing Jisung’s hand softly with the tip of his fingers. A small smile on his face, he sighed at how peaceful the other boy looked while asleep. “ _I wish you knew my secret_ ,” he whispered.

“ _What’s your secret?_ ” Jisung’s voice echoed in Minho’s head. He still had his eyes closed; he was not asleep. When he felt Minho’s hand leaving his, he suddenly opened his eyes and took the boy’s hand back in his, intertwining their fingers.

“ _I thought you were sleeping_ ,” the older boy confessed.

“ _And I am not_ ,” he smiled softly. “ _You can trust me with your secret. If you want, I’ll tell you one too_.”

Jisung’s smile was genuine, and it made him feel safe. He hung his head low, squeezing his hand a bit. He whispered, “ _I’m a vampire._ ” He didn’t hear a yelp of surprise, nor did he felt him trying to escape. Confused, the older boy looked up. Jisung was still looking at him fondly, caressing the back of his hand with his thumb. “ _You’re not scared?_ ” The younger boy shook his head sideways. “ _Why are you not scared?_ ” He was confused. Jisung softly chuckled, his nose scrunching a bit as he eyes closed half-way. _He was so beautiful like this._ “ _Because you cried telling me how good I was while you were deep inside of me_ ,” the boy simply said. It made the vampire blush, as he let his body fall on top of his boyfriend’s, hiding his face in the crook of his neck as he was hugged tightly, a kiss on the top of his head made him smile. “ _I have to admit, I thought your secret would be something more…normal? Like, I stole this when I was a kid and I can’t sleep at night. I didn’t think it was…that._ ” The boy’s voice was resonating through his body, making Minho shiver at every word.

He closed his eyes, kissing the soft skin of his neck. “ _I love you, Jisung. I’ve never loved anyone the way that I love you_ ,” he was older, stronger and bigger in every way, yet he never felt this small and vulnerable. The kiss Jisung left on his forehead made him smile brighter than he ever did, “ _I love you too, and I’ll love you all of my life_.”

They looked at each other in the eyes, a smile never leaving their faces as they softly kissed. Minho lay down on top of Jisung, closing his eyes and ready to go to sleep. Jisung seemed to do the same, however, he suddenly spoke up as if he had realized something, “ _Wait, if you’re a vampire… does—does that mean the other t—the other two are—?_ ” Minho chuckled, answering a simple _yes, they are_ followed by a _can you sleep now?_ which made Jisung laugh.

The next day, Minho had told the two boys Jisung knew about them. Hyunjin got scared and left the apartment. Chan, however, was relieved. He didn’t have to hide anymore. When Jisung had woken up, no one was there. A paper was laying on the kitchen table; “ _Hyunjin ran away, we’ll be back once we find him. I love you, xx_ ”

Five hours later, the three vampires entered their apartment. Jisung was eating a bowl of soup in the kitchen, watching as Chan walked behind Hyunjin, a firm hand on the boy’s shoulder. “ _Hi_ ,” he greeted them, waving his hand shyly. “ _Is it because of me?_ ” Minho sat next to him, kissing his cheek. No one answered him, because no one wanted to say that it indeed was.

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” Jisung had told Hyunjin once they were left alone in the kitchen.

“ _I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have_ —” Hyunjin stopped. He didn’t even know why he was apologizing.

“ _Ok, can you all come to the living room?_ ” Chan’s voice echoed through the apartment. Everyone obeyed.

“ _Jisung knowing about what we are does not mean we must change the way we act_ ,” the older started. “ _It is still dangerous outside, so Hyunjin, you better not run away again. And Minho, don’t you dare use your strength in the middle of the street like that ever again or—_ ” he stopped on his track. The two vampires nodded. “ _Now, Jisung. I guess you have questions?_ ”

The human felt small. Him and the two younger vampires were sitting on the couch while Chan was standing in front of them. He wasn’t the tallest, yet he was the scariest. “ _How old are you?_ ” Jisung shyly asked.

“ _106 for him_ ,” Chan started, pointing at Hyunjin. Jisung’s mouth formed a ‘o’. “ _247 for your boyfriend_ ,” the vampire continued, pointing at Minho. Jisung turned to face the latter, caressing his cheek in disbelief. “ _454 for me_.” Jisung couldn’t hold a gasp any longer. It made the three vampires chuckle.

“ _Do you really feed on blood?_ ” The three boys nodded at that question. “ _Did you really make a pact with the devil?_ ” Chan sighed, sitting down on his armchair. They then all three of them counted their stories. Once again, Chan omitted all the details. Even Minho omitted details, mostly about how his father was beating him every day. Hyunjin, him, didn’t omit anything. He didn’t have anything to hide anyway.

1947, Jisung was aware he was dating a vampire. However, he wasn’t ready to see him _be_ a vampire.

A sudden conflict in the country forced them to stay hidden, and to only rely on their stock of blood for a few months. Hyunjin, being the youngest, was allowed the highest dose of blood. The two others starved the most. Chan was able to keep his sanity, despite starving the hardest. Minho should have been able to too, but as it was his first time really starving, he quickly felt the need for blood rising in him.

One night, Jisung hugging him tightly, he stayed awake, staring at his ceiling. He could smell his boyfriend’s fresh blood. He could feel his nails getting longer and his sanity slowly leaving him. He closed his eyes, inhaling sharply. Jisung woke up when he felt his boyfriend’s body shaking. “ _Minho, are you ok?_ ”

“ _Hungry_ ,” he grumbled.

“ _Do you want me to get you a blood bag?_ ”

“ _They’re Hyunjin’s,_ ” he simply answered, keeping his eyes closed, digging his long nails in his thigh.

Jisung got up a bit, putting his weight on his elbow. He looked at his boyfriend, pondering a thought for a moment. “ _Do you want to feed on me?_ ”

The suggestion made Minho shiver in excitement, his eyes opening wide. Still sane enough to grasp the situation, he shook his head sideways, “ _I don’t want to hurt you_.”

“ _You won’t, I know it. I trust you, Minho. And you’re clearly too hungry. I trust you enough to suggest that_ ,” the younger softly took his hand, caressing his fingers from his first knuckle to the tip of his nails.

“ _Th-Then, tell me. Tell me if it hurts. I’ll stop. I promise, I’ll stop. If I d—If I don’t, push me. Slap me. I don’t know but… Make me stop, if I don’t._ ” Jisung nodded and kissed his forehead, repeating once again that he trusted him.

Minho got on his knees, standing on the bed in front of Jisung, who was sitting cross-legged. Trying to keep his hunger low, the vampire hovered over his boyfriend, slowly dragging his nail against the boy’s flesh, on the side of his neck. The boy wailed, it made Minho stop immediately. “ _No, it’s ok. C-Continue._ ” The vampire nodded and dug his nail just enough to cut his flesh a bit. He had never fed on a human without the intention to kill them, so, he didn’t know how much blood he should take. Slowly, he opened his mouth against the boy’s flesh. Jisung whimpered, grabbing the older’s arm tightly. He closed his eyes tightly as the vampire slowly dug his fang in the cut. He immediately cried of pain, his nails digging in Minho’s arms. The vampire removed his fangs as soon as he heard him cry, hugging his boyfriend tightly. “ _I’m sorry, I’m so sorry_ ,” he caressed his back as he rocked him a bit. Jisung cried of pain for a moment, falling asleep right after.

Jisung didn’t suggest feeding on him after three days. He still had a small scar on his neck, but seeing how hungry his boyfriend was, he took it on himself and suggested it again. However, this time, it was broad daylight. Chan overheard the conversation and sat next to Minho. “ _Wait, are you going to?_ ” Minho turned towards him with pleading eyes. “ _Jisung, are you ok if I stay?_ ” The younger looked at him, then at his boyfriend. “ _That way, I can stop him if he goes a bit_ ” he pointed his index fingers to his head, turning his head a bit, ”you _know?_ ”. Jisung laughed, Minho pushed Chan a bit before looking at him fondly.

This is how Minho managed to feed on Jisung for the first time. Chan, strangely, guided Minho—it was as if he had already done it a few times. Actually, Minho wouldn’t be shocked if it was the case, Chan had a lot of secrets anyway.

Done correctly, Jisung didn’t cry of pain when Minho dug his fangs in his flesh. He actually whimpered of pleasure, grabbing Minho’s arm to steady himself. Chan, a bit uncomfortable, tapped twice on the vampire’s shoulder. “ _I think you should stop_ ,” the boy said. As soon as Minho removed his fangs and turned towards Chan, he got up and left, slowly hinting at Jisung’s state before leaving the room for good. With red cheeks, Jisung looked at his boyfriends, stuttering a bit, “ _I think I got a bit… excited_.”

After that day, it actually got part of their daily routine. Lying on their shared bed, Minho would take a bit of Jisung’s blood. Not to feed himself, but just enough for Jisung to be aroused. They then would kiss and undress each other.

Sleeping in the room right next to theirs, Chan regretted showing Minho how to feed on someone.

“ _Guys, I think it’s time to move again._ ” Chan stated as he came home from work.

“ _What?_ ” The three other boys were sitting in the kitchen.

“ _I was at work and I overheard someone say that they’re gonna put us back in North Korea_.”

“ _They what?_ ” Minho hurriedly said, getting up from his seat.

“ _They’re going to sign an armistice. And the peace between the North and the South relies on this city. North gets it, and they won’t attack the South anymore,_ ” the oldest explained as he was packing their belongings.

“ _Where are we going, then?_ ” Jisung asked, taking Minho’s hand for reassurance.

Chan sighed, stopping all his movements, turning his back to them. “ _I think it’s time to go back to Seoul_.”

Minho and Hyunjin both clenched their jaw at the thought of going back there. Jisung, though, didn’t object to it.

Heavy bags on their back, the four boys left the city. They weren’t the only ones who had heard about the change of side their city will undergo. Still careful not to get caught, they stayed in the crowd, walking with them.

Words spread around that the population was fleeing. The roads got blocked, trains got stopped. The only way to get out was by foot. It wasn’t an issue for the three vampires; however, it was for the humans—Jisung included. The mass of people had to stop somewhere _safe_ every night to sleep. They had to stop every half an hour to eat, or drink water. It was actually more tired for the three vampires to stop and _rest_ than to keep walking. This is why, with Jisung’s agreement, they decided to leave the mass and to walk on their own. Whenever Jisung wanted to sleep, Minho would take him on his back as they walked. The only time they stopped, was for the human to eat and drink water. The three vampires fed on animals they found on the road.

After weeks of walking, they finally got into South Korea. It didn’t go as well as what they thought. Jisung was feeling sick. He had barely enough strength to walk on his own. It was 1953, Jisung was 43, the three vampires were still in their twenties. It looked weird for the others, that such an old man held hands with a twenty-something guy. When Jisung had turned thirty, he had asked Minho if he wanted to _turn him_. Looking back to Hyunjin’s experience, Minho had shaken his head no; “ _I want you to be happy_.” The human didn’t ask any further question, he didn’t really want to become a vampire. He just wanted _to be happy with his boyfriend_.

The four boys walked in a new city. They got weird look from the population. “ _Where are you from?_ ” someone asked them. They looked behind them, motioning their head to signal that they were _coming from there_. The inhabitants chased them. “ _North Koreans should stay in the north!_ ” they all yelled as they threw anything they could at them.

They ran. They ran for their life, yet they didn’t go as fast as they wanted. They waited for Jisung. Chan stayed behind them, telling them to _run in front_. Minho took his lover in his arms, Hyunjin ran next to him, looking back to Chan every once in a while.

“ _They’re North Korean! We should kill them!_ ” they heard from the crowd chasing them. The crowd kept on getting bigger. Guns were fired. Chan got a bullet in his leg. He fell on his knees at the shock, yelping in pain. Quickly, he got back up and started running again. The two other vampires got hurt too. Minho fell, Jisung falling with him. The crowd surrounded them, people throwing kitchen knives at them. In seconds, Minho covered Jisung with his body. The human cried, grabbing tightly at his lover’s jacket.

None of them really remember what had happened. They got knives on their flesh, blades piercing their skins. It was loud. Everyone shouted. Jisung cried. Yet, suddenly, everything stopped. The crowd left, screaming victorious _over the North Koreans_. Jisung didn’t make any noise. Hyunjin was breathing heavily, holding tightly on Chan’s hand as their wounds healed. Minho had the heaviest wound. He cried. He yelled.

On his knees, over his boyfriend’s body, he cupped his cheeks as he kept on calling his name. The boy had cuts on his chest, blood surrounding him. “ _Jisung, Jisung open your eyes_ ,” Minho kept on crying, shaking the boy with all of his strength.

Finally picking up on the sound around him, Chan got up. That is when he saw. Minho, and Jisung’s lifeless body. He got up, grabbing his friend’s shoulder softly. “ _Minho, it’s useless. We need to go_ ,” he whispered. The boy turned towards him, pushing his hand off of his shoulder. “ _I won’t leave without him!_ ”

It took all of their strength to get Minho up and to pull him away from Jisung. The boy cried, more than he ever cried in his life as they ran away once again, leaving his lover’s body behind.


	6. The Clause

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho is grieving. Hyunjin is getting bolder. And Chan, well, you'll see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm sorry I kinda disappeared for a few weeks, lmao. I wasn't home, then I got uni stuff, then I had writer's block and stuff. Anyway, this chapter ain't as long as I originally planned, but it has lots of important stuff in it! Have fun reading!

They had walked for a few days before finally stepping foot inside of Seoul. At that point, Minho was nothing more but a puddle of tears. He had no strength in his legs, refused to feed himself or to get fed, no words had left his mouth since the last time he had cried his lover’s name. It pained the two other vampires to see him in such a state.

As the city wasn’t the safest place for three vampires, they decided to go to the vampires’ place—where Minho’s family used to live. They knew the city quite well, as they had spent most of their lives—for the two younger ones—in here. They took dark alleys and arrived in front of the gates separating the two worlds. Minho didn’t even look up, Hyunjin shuddered when he remembered his days in this place. Chan, on the other hand, was the only one to see how much that place had changed.

Slowly, they pushed the gate. It grated loudly. A few vampires looked through their windows, staring at the three boys. They heard gasps as they were probably recognized right away—Hyunjin and Minho lived here, which made it logical everyone knew them. As for Chan, he didn’t know until he remembered that time half of them hunt them down. He clenched his jaw, fists tight against his thighs.

They walked towards the biggest house—Minho’s. Halfway there, Chan saw that the house had no roof left, broken windows, lifeless. He turned around. The other houses also had broken windows, doors and roofs. “ _If you’re looking for them, they’re dead_ ,” a voice rose from one house. Minho looked up a bit, a grin on his face as he recognized his ex-wife. “ _They died during the war. They got killed. Most of us, actually. The city—The city’s not safe. You shouldn’t stay here_ ,” she walked towards the three boys, stopping right in front of the boy with whom she shared a house once. Taking his hands in hers, she stared at his soulless eyes. “ _What happened to him?_ ” Hyunjin shook his head a bit, taking Minho’s hands out of hers. “ _Chan, we should leave_ ,” he said in a low voice. The oldest nodded, taking Minho on his back as he walked hand in hand with Hyunjin, leaving this place once again.

They had settled in the forest right next to Seoul. It wasn’t far, ten minutes from the city to the start of the forest, ten other minutes to arrive in the deepest part of the forest. Right there, between the trees, was a small house. It didn’t look fancy at all. It had a small living-room, a pretty kitchen with a big table in the middle, three bedrooms and an empty room they used for storage. Next to the living-room was a bathroom, and they had a little terrace behind the house. This time, Chan got the biggest room. The other two were of the same size.

When they had first step foot in this house, the walls were barely standing, there wasn’t any furniture and it smelled like rot. Minho fell on the floor in the middle of the living-room, curling up on himself as he cried Jisung’s name.

It took them around five years to make this place pretty and liveable. Hyunjin was proud of the decoration he had chosen. He actually looked happier than he had ever looked. Maybe it was because of how isolated they were, but he didn’t fear staying alone anymore. He didn’t fear going outside either. Or maybe it was because of Minho’s state, that he took it upon himself to go hunt whenever Chan couldn’t.

Minho was… He wasn’t Minho anymore. He stayed in his bed all day long. He didn’t talk. He didn’t feed himself until he was forced to. He didn’t sleep, and when he did, he always woke up with a start and screaming Jisung’s name. He cried a lot. If he was human, he’d probably be dead by now. The two vampires were worried for him.

1964, eleven years since Jisung died and the three boys settled in _Seoul_. Five years since they comfortably live in their house. Ten years since Minho has last spoken. Whenever they asked him something, he would simply blankly stare at them, hum or nod, point his finger at his answer, never speak. It was also Hyunjin’s 100th _birthday_. Chan knew how important it was, kind of the same as a human’s 21st birthday. He prepared a small party—nothing fancy, actually. He hunted for hours to get human blood, putting it in a bigger blood bag than they use to feed. He then bought a cake from a shop in the city, with _Happy birthday_ written on it. Minho was in his room, refusing to leave his bed. Hyunjin sat in front of the cake, Chan in front of him and excitedly watching as he blew his candles. Hyunjin chuckled, thanking Chan with a tight hug. He then enjoyed the human blood and even shared it with Chan—and kept some for Minho, for when he’ll decide to feed. That day, they were happy.

One day, Chan walked all the way to the city, and came back with a coffee machine. He installed it in the kitchen and then went to Minho’s room, sitting next to the boy. He took his hand in his, caressing its back with his thumb softly as he spoke, “ _I bought you a coffee machine, do you want to drink a coffee? You haven’t had one in decades; don’t you miss it?_ ” Minho looked at their hands, then he looked up and stared at Chan. Frozen for a few minutes, he finally took his hand out of Chan’s and lied back on his bed. The older sighed, caressing the boy’s back for a moment before leaving his room.

They tried everything they could, even if it seemed worthless, they never gave up. Minho was part of their family. Jisung had been too. His death hasn’t been hard only on Minho, he just had it the hardest. Grieving wasn’t easy, yet not impossible. Chan was the one recovering the fastest. He had lost his entire family; nothing could be worse than that. Hyunjin grieved slowly but successfully—he wasn’t _that_ close to the human anyway. Minho, well, Minho was grieving at his own pace. Slowly, carefully, trying to never forget the boy’s face, his voice, his soft skin, his giggles and everything about him.

Minho was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he remembered how Jisung always smelled like flowers. How his soft skin was always burning hot whenever they had sex. How he would cuddle onto his back when they sleep. The vampire closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheek as he clutched his hands on his T-shirt, his head full of Jisung’s voice. “ _I miss you_ ,” he whimpered between his sobs.

Perhaps it was because he heard him cry, or perhaps because he heard him talk, but Hyunjin ran to Minho’s room, finding him crying on his bed. He breathed out, walking towards the boy’s bed, sitting on the edge. “ _Minho_ ,” he softly put his hand on top of the other’s, trying not to startle him. “ _Minho, it’s me_.” It may have been vague enough for Minho’s clouded mind. He opened his eyes, sitting right up on his bed as he hugged Hyunjin tightly, crying on his shoulder, “ _Jisung!_ ” Hyunjin was about to tell him that _they were all missing him_ , when Minho spoke again. “ _Jisung, I missed you so much. I missed you. What—What took you so long?_ ” he was crying even harder, and it was getting hard to decipher his words. Hyunjin felt lucky to have sensitive ears and to hear him even if he was barely whispering. He didn’t say anything, simply hugging him tighter as Minho kept on mistaking him for his past lover.

He finally fell asleep. He was holding Hyunjin’s hand tightly, convinced that he was somebody else. The youngest had tears in his eyes as he watched over the vampire. He waited until he was sure that the boy was asleep to exit the room and go to Chan’s. “ _He thought I was Jisung_ ,” his voice startled Chan. “ _But he talked_.”

Twenty years since he started grieving, Minho left his bed. He walked towards their kitchen, looking around as if he was discovering the house—he actually kind of was. He pushed the coffee machine’s button and filled a cup. Sitting at their table, he drank his coffee. The taste startled him. He hadn’t feed in days; his tongue and mouth were dry. The coffee was bitter, just like the first one he drank centuries ago.

When Chan went to the kitchen, he stopped on his track and rubbed his eyes to check if he was hallucinating or not. But he was not. Minho was right there, sitting at their kitchen table, a cup of coffee in hand. “ _Good morning_ ,” he greeted. To his surprise, Minho looked up and greeted him in response, “ _Good morning, Chan_.”

It was as if nothing had changed. They were back to their old selves—mostly. Hyunjin still kept his _Alice in Wonderland_ book close to him. Chan still went hunting to make blood bags and working a part of the day. Minho—well, Minho stayed in the house. He was back to his _before Jisung_ self. He kept on drinking coffees—around twenty per days—and stayed in their house.

Around 1980, Chan made their house more _up to date_. They got a TV set, a phone, a computer. It was luxury. It wasn’t until the 90’s that they got mobile phones and laptops. It wasn’t like mobiles were _that_ useful to them, as they only had each other in their contact list, but it made everyone feel safer whenever they went _out for a walk_.

The 21st century was a real change. Chan’s boss—his at least fifth one since they lived here—had told him to _get some holidays_ , to _go travel or something_. So, as he had always dreamed of, he booked a plane ticket for Sydney, as well as a hotel room. The two other vampires were of course coming with him.

More than excited, they counted the days until their trip. When it finally arrived, they sat nervously in the plane, watching at the clouds beneath them. Chan had a lump in his throat, wondering if he’d ever feel at home there.

They landed in the airport, hopped inside of a taxi to go to their hotel where they left some of their belongings. Then, they almost immediately started walking around town. Chan was—He wasn’t feeling good. Nothing looked like it used to. He didn’t recognize anything. He was lost. “ _This is not home_ ,” he whispered as he stared at the road in front of him. He then looked behind him, where Hyunjin and Minho were, a small smile on his face, “ _This. This is home_.” He walked towards them, hugging them tightly.

Even if nothing looked like when he lived there, some places still felt familiar. He found himself wandering the streets, in the middle of the night, unconsciously following a path. He felt fear rising in him at each step. Looking at his left, he saw a huge field. Blinking, it actually was a mall. Looking at his right, he saw his family’s hut. His breath itched in his throat as he saw his mom coming out of the hut, his baby sister in his mom’s arms, showing it proudly at his dad. They then faded away, the same scene happening with his baby brother. Every time, he was next to his mom’s legs, smiling proudly. He felt tears welling in his eyes as he saw his family turn towards him, staring coldly at him. He blinked his tears away. When he looked again, he was facing a Chinese restaurant. He started walking again. It was getting harder to breathe. He couldn’t stop the tears to run down his cheeks as he felt every place as a familiar one. He may have walked for twenty minutes when he finally stopped. There he was again. That road. That dirty road. He saw the horse again, with that rich guy on it. He started to breathe loudly, his hands shaking a bit. Staring as the horse walked through him. He turned around, watching as the horse continued its journey as if it hadn’t walked through someone just now—killed him. It suddenly got dark. All dark. He felt like falling in a deep hole. He wanted to yell, feeling hot air surrounding him as he fell, his throat was dry and tight, he couldn’t breathe.

“ _Ow_!” He breathed out as he fell onto his butt, rubbing the small of his back.

“ _Hello, Christopher_ ,” he heard a low and familiar voice say. Looking up, he saw him. The Devil. There he was. Once again. Facing him. Red, gigantic. This time, he wasn’t as frightened, not reassured either. “ _How’re you doing, small child?_ ”

“ _Why am I here?_ ” Christopher said, getting up on his feet, ignoring the Devil’s question.

“ _Oh, well. You were back to the place where we first met. I felt like asking,_ ” he grinned.

“ _Get me back_.”

“ _You’re not one to make this kind of choice, Christopher_.” The Devil said, moving his hand around. Christopher couldn’t get his eyes off of his fingers, wondering what he was doing. Almost instantly, he got his answer. He felt his body getting dragged towards the other, falling back on a chair—was it there before? “ _You’re a bit cocky for a poor farmer._ ” The Devil chuckled. “ _You know, there are some clause to your curse_ ,” he started again.

Christopher looked around; it was all pitched black. He then looked back to the Devil. “ _A clause? It’s not a contract_ ,” he arched a brow. The Devil then snapped his fingers together, a parchment appearing in his hand. He untied the well-made bow that was around it and the parchment rolled down, on top of it were written the words “ **Christopher Bang, Vampire Contract** ”. It made him shiver. His eyes scanned the parchment, seeing all the indications. That in exchange of an immortal life he was giving away his human life. All the things he’d gain, all he’d lose. He arched a brow when he saw that he was supposedly given _the ability to persuade others_. Was this why Hyunjin and Minho trusted him blindly? He got lost in his thoughts, until the devil tapped a part of the parchment to indicate him to read this part. “ **Once turned, Christopher Bang should take part in the Vampires growth.** ”

“ _What does this mean?_ ” the boy said, leaning forward and taking the parchment in his hands.

“ _It means that, it is your duty as a 1 st Generation to give me, your maker, a 2nd Generation_.” The Devil then kneeled a bit, leaning towards Christopher, taking his chin between his longs and bony fingers. “ _Get children. Or turn a human. I don’t really care, you’re powerful enough to make a powerful turned vampire. Just like this Hwang Hyunjin boy. I can smell his power up ‘til there. He’s powerful, isn’t he?_ ” Christopher couldn’t answer. His throat was tightening with fear. He simply nodded. The Devil smiled. “ _Give me new vampires. Or I’ll take back what I gave you_ ,” his last words echoed through the darkness as he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Christopher was left alone on his chair, parchment still in hand. Until it disappeared. The chair too. He was standing in the dark. He blinked and he was back in the busy streets of Sydney.

He walked back to the hotel, lost in his thoughts. He entered the hotel room, walking towards his bed and let himself fall on top of it. The two others looked at him with a worried expression, yet they didn’t ask anything.

Chan never talked about this. He never talked about his hallucinations and his meeting with the Devil—second meeting, actually. He kept it to himself and dealt with it on his own. They went back to Seoul a few days later and nobody asked questions.

One night, sitting in his bed, Chan wondered if he should actually listen to the Devil. Should he give him more vampires, or should he do as he pleased? It wasn’t like Chan wanted children—he didn’t even know any vampire woman, or a woman in general. He didn’t want to turn anyone either. Chan was scared, to say the least. He didn’t feel ready to have this kind of responsibility. He was happy with Minho and Hyunjin as his _brothers_. He had struggle enough when teaching Hyunjin how to be a vampire, he wasn’t ready to do it again. He did not want to! This is how he decided not to follow the Devil’s words. He won’t turn anyone. And if he was to die because of it, then so be it.


	7. New one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan is... different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm sorry it took so long for that chapter. Hope you'll enjoy!

When he left his room in the morning, already ready to go to work, he wasn’t expecting to find Minho sitting on the couch, in front of the TV. Carefully, he sat next to him, looking at the screen in front of them. It was a documentary about the Korean war. He looked at the younger boy, taking his hand in his. Minho turned his head to look at him, a small but sad smile on his face, “ _You know, I sort of hoped he’d make a deal and come back as a vampire_.” They hadn’t spoke about Jisung in decades—since his death actually. Minho had never voiced out anything about it and the two others avoided this subject as they knew it was still a sensitive one. “ _I hoped he’d come back. I hoped he’d love me enough to make a deal_ ,” Minho continued, his eyes getting teary but his smile not leaving his mouth. Chan circled his waist with his free arm, pulling him into a hug. “ _It doesn’t work like that, Minho. He loved you. Damn. He loved you so much, but you’re not the one to decide whether you meet the Devil or not. He just wasn’t a chosen one. Maybe it’s for the best, don’t you think? You know him. He wasn’t one for the vampire life_ ,” he carefully chose his words, caressing Minho’s back at every sentence. The other simply hummed and hugged him tighter, turning the TV off. “ _I miss him. I miss him so much, Chris._ ” The other stiffened. He hadn’t been called Chris since he had left that ship centuries ago. The Devil called him Christopher, and everyone else called him Chan. Then, why suddenly calling him Chris? Minho kissed the boy’s cheek and smiled softly, “ _You’re gonna be late to work, Chan. Hurry,_ ” he chuckled a bit at the older’s startled face. Chan looked at him with wide eyes, staring at his corrupted soul. Minho simply smiled brighter and got up from the couch, leaving for his bedroom. Chan stayed there, bewildered. Was it a dream? Was his mind playing him tricks? It somehow made more sense than Minho suddenly calling him _Chris_.

The forest around their house had grown big, it was actually kind of difficult to find them for someone who didn’t know the way. It was part of the reason they chose it, actually. That way, when they hunted, they were sure not to meet anyone. It still was a bit troublesome, mostly to Chan who had to walk all the way to the forest’s entrance in order to go to work. Nonetheless, they would never give it away. Still, he enjoyed it whenever the weather was good; walking through the forest, sunlight grazing on his skin through the leaves, wind blowing softly in his hair. It felt like a magic world only them could experience. He felt normal. He felt _human_. Accepted by this world. Like he was made for this place.

Chan entered the city with light footsteps; his work wasn’t far, and he still had time. So, he decided to go on a walk in the neighbourhood. He took a turn left from his workplace, looking around. He saw a convenience store, somehow curious he walked towards the huge window and looked inside. He saw a few customers, and a blond-haired guy behind the register. Chan stared a bit too long, as the seemingly younger boy turned his head towards the window and looked at him right in the eyes. Scared, the vampire left in a hurry and went to his workplace.

He didn’t know what had gotten into him, but once his work ended, he found himself staring again at that window, looking for the blond guy he saw earlier. He found him, in one of the sections, shelving new products. His back was facing the window, Chan took the opportunity to look at him for a longer time. He seemed around the same height as him and looked around Jisung’s age—when they had first met him. When the boy turned around, Chan ran away once again, finally going back home.

“ _You got held back at work?_ ” Hyunjin asked when the older put a foot inside.

“ _Mm, yeah. A bit_ ,” Chan lied.

“ _It’s late, Minho went hunting instead of you_ ,” Hyunjin looked at Chan, taking a step towards him. “ _You weren’t coming back. We waited around an hour but you were still not here so he decided to go, he should come back soon_.” Chan simply nodded, walking towards the kitchen. Hyunjin stopped him, taking his hand in his. “ _Is everything ok?_ ” He seemed worried.

“ _Of course, why the question?_ ”

“ _You seem—Well, since we came back from Australia, you seem a bit—I don’t know how to say but, not here?_ ” the youngest chose his words as carefully as he could. It showed. Chan softly hugged him, a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“ _Everything is ok, don’t worry, ok? It was just a bit weird going back after all this time, but I’m fine I promise_ ,” he offered him a smile, which seemed to reassure him enough.

Chan was lying down on his bed, staring at his ceiling, whipping blood from the corner of his mouth. The cashier’s face appeared in his mind; he had seen it for less than a minute, but it was enough to stay engraved in his mind. He closed his eyes, the boy’s face becoming clearer and clearer, enough for him to see the freckles on his skin. He hadn’t even realized the boy had freckles until now.

He woke up with cold sweats, the cashier’s face still clear in his mind. He might have screamed in his sleep, as both of the other vampires had run to his room, the door wide open. He stared at them, sitting in the middle of his bed. They both talked at the same time; “ _Is everything ok?_ ” Chan looked at them, breathing heavily. He softly smiled, glad to have them in his life. He nodded. Hyunjin hesitated, but then left the room, telling Chan to sleep well. However, Minho closed the door behind him before walking towards the older’s bed, sitting next to him; “ _Are you sure everything’s ok?_ ”

“ _Just had a nightmare, not like it’s the first time it happens_ ,” he tried to be as reassuring as he could.

“ _You don’t usually scream in your sleep, not—not like that,_ ” the boy seemed really worried.

Chan simply smiled, circling the other’s waist and pulling him down with him, snuggling against the boy’s back; “ _Let’s get back to sleep, ok?_ ” Minho hummed, letting the older get comfortable against his back, taking his hands in his, resting on his stomach. It had been long since they last cuddled like that, it felt nice. Minho fell asleep first, Chan was trying hard to remember his nightmare, fighting sleep. Eventually, he went back to sleep, head pressed against the other’s back.

Something about that convenience store employee made Chan go nuts. His mind was full of this guy’s face and he didn’t even know him. He found himself staring at him through the shop’s window more than once. He was always in some kind of trance, walking to that shop without even realizing it until he was already in front of the window. What was happening to him? Why was he so obsessed with the guy? Maybe talking about it to Minho and Hyunjin would help. Especially after he had yet another nightmare involving that guy. He did not talk about it. He once again kept it to himself, to deal with on his own, wishing and hoping it’d go away soon.

Stretching his legs, Felix put his arm over his eyes, yawning as he tried to ignore his mom’s voice calling him from downstairs. “ _It’s time for breakfast, Lixie. Get down here now or you’re going to be late to school!_ ” He finally got out of bed, rubbing his eye with the back of his first knuckle. Lazily, he went downstairs, sitting at the table. “ _What took you so long?_ ” his mom asked with a frown. He simply shrugged and started to eat his breakfast.

It all had started a month ago. His nightmares. Somehow, it always involved that same guy. He didn’t know him. It had first scared him when he saw the exact same guy staring at him from outside his workplace. Yet, it may have been a simple coincidence as the guy left without talking to him. His nightmares didn’t stop. It was always the same scheme: he was running in a forest, screaming and panting, that unknown guy following him. He always woke up right before the guy could catch him, it didn’t make it any less scary. Felix could barely sleep at night.

Once his last class was over, Felix walked all the way to the convenience store he worked at. When he turned the corner, he saw that guy in front of the shop, looking inside, looking for someone. Gulping his anxiety away, he walked to the guy, putting his hand on his shoulder. He jumped, it made him less scary for a few second. “ _Do you need help?_ ” Felix asked in his low voice, trying to sound confident. The other stared at him with big round eyes, shaking his head sideways. “ _I saw you often in front of the shop, yet you never come inside. Are you sure you don’t need any help?_ ” He once again shook his head, his eyes never leaving Felix’s. The freckled boy felt uneasy. He nodded and hummed slightly, entering the shop to grab his vest and start working. The stranger didn’t leave, staring at him from outside. _Doesn’t he have something else to do?_

Every day, that stranger was there. Sometimes he stayed for a few minutes, sometimes for hours. He never talked, never followed him, never did anything that made Felix scared despite his staring. He was just uneasy. It was… weird. That was all. Maybe he would be less scary if he didn’t appear in Felix’s nightmare every night.

One day, that stranger finally entered the shop. Felix was behind the cash register, following him with his eyes. He entered the snack section, a bag of chips in hand he then made his way to the drinks. After almost three minutes he took a can of coffee and a bottle of lemonade. He started to walk towards Felix but suddenly stopped, turned around and entered the animal toy section. Felix arched a brow when he saw him with a small ball with a bell inside. Finally, the stranger went to Felix’s register, putting down his articles. Felix scanned the articles, eyeing the stranger in case he’d do something weird. Nothing. “ _It’ll be 15$, sir_ ,” Felix stated. He took the guy’s card and he left, a small ‘ _thanks, bye_ ’ being heard right before the automatic door closed. That was it. He didn’t do anything weird.

Every two days, the guy would come by and buy almost the same articles. It took around two weeks for Felix to get the guy’s name. _Chan_. He didn’t get much information about him, but at least they were talking. Friendly, actually. He could _almost_ consider Chan his friend. Only almost because, actually, he barely knew the guy.

“ _Why do you always buy a can of coffee if you can’t drink it?_ ” Felix asked, his head resting on his hand as he stared at Chan in front of him, behind the register.

“ _It’s for my… friend. We live together. He has some kind of coffee addiction,_ ” Chan answered as he paid for his articles.

“ _Oh, is it bad?_ ”

“ _Mmmh, I think it is. But he’s ok, I think_.”

“ _You’re a nice friend, Chan_ ,” Felix smiled softly. Chan looked at him in the eyes, smiling in return. It made Felix’s body warm.

Felix had never been this eager to go to work, but now that he had Chan to talk to, he wanted only one thing out of his day: being in that convenience store.

It was one of those nights. Felix was having a nightmare. He was in his pajamas, the exact same he had gone to bed in, walking in the streets. He was bare foot, walking in a puddle every once in a while. His heart was beating loudly in his chest. The streets were barely lit, almost completely empty. It was the middle of the night; he could hear the wind. He took a turn left, entering a dark alleyway. Once again, he walked in a puddle. He stopped in the middle of the alleyway, his breathing starting to get short. He could feel eyes on him. He turned around, there was no one. No one. Until he saw it. Those eyes. He didn’t scream when it jumped on him. It was just a nightmare anyway, he’d wake up.

When Felix woke up, he was lying down in a puddle in the middle of the street. He opened his eyes, his head hurting as if he had been run over by a truck. A bit confused, he scratched his nape as he sat up, looking around. When he looked down, he saw that he was in his pajamas. He also saw the blood mixed with the water inside of the puddle. Even more confused, he got up, turning around once again. He sighed, walking back to his place.

“ _Have you been sleepwalking again? Felix, I told you to lock your window_ s _,_ ” his mother stated as he entered the apartment.

“ _I’m sorry mom, I’ll be more careful next time I promise_ ,” he kissed her cheek and went to the bathroom, taking a long shower as he tried to recall what could have happened last night.

Every day were the same for Felix, despite his constant headaches. He always felt hungry, even after eating a full-course meal. His nightmares stopped, but not his sleepwalking habit. It used to occur occasionally, but these days it happened almost every night. However, his parents had taken precautions and had locked every windows and doors, which resulted in Felix waking up in random rooms yet never outside of the apartment. He didn’t sleep much, always felt tired but energized at the same time. He also had more reflexes than before. Somehow, he had caught a falling shelve in the convenience store, putting back in place as if nothing had happened. His employer gave him a bonus on his paycheck and that was it. It didn’t help Felix, though. He was _hungry_ and his head _hurt_.

It had been three weeks since Felix had started to feel his stomach churning every minutes of his existence. Three weeks since he had been sleepwalking every night. Three weeks, and he was now running with no other intention than fulfilling his hunger. His mouth was agape, breathing erratic, head spinning, stomach grumbling loudly.

His feet enjoyed the change of texture when he left the city and entered the forest. The grass was soft under his bare feet. He looked around; all the trees were the same. He ran without thinking much of his destination. He could feel his energy leaving him at every step he took, yet he never stopped. He simply ran harder, clutching his hands into fists against his thighs. His stomach grumbled loudly; his entire body hurt. His teeth hurt as if they were growing, his back felt broken, his neck was burning, his head was spinning even more than before. He finally saw a path. He went on it, still running. It didn’t take him long to stop on his track. He had heard a strange noise. Looking around, standing in the middle of the path, he felt his body weakening at a fast pace. Until it all suddenly went black, his body fell on the floor.


	8. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go down again between Minho and Chan as Felix gets added to their household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, it took me some time to write but I hope it's still enjoyable. I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going with this, so if it's a bit messy, excuse me hhhh

Chan was at work when he got a call from Minho. “ _There’s someone in the forest_ ” he had said in a whisper. “ _Hyunjin went to look out who it is_ ,” it made Chan’s soul jump in his body. “ _I’ll be home in 5_.” Chan got up from his seat and told his boss he _had a family emergency_. He ran faster than he ever ran in his whole life. He was scared for Hyunjin.

It had started with rustling noises. They first thought it was the wind. But then they heard grumbling noises. It was clearly someone. Breathing sounds. That stranger was not far from their house, maybe at the beginning of the path. Minho’s fangs were out, ready to attack the stranger if they ever came close to them. Hyunjin got up from the couch, his hand sliding into Minho’s; “ _I’ll go take a look, ok?_ ” Minho turned towards the younger boy; eyes wide opened. “ _No? No, you’re not! It’s dangerous outside._ ” Hyunjin chuckled; “ _I’m a vampire too, I can defend myself_.” As they were arguing over whether or not Hyunjin should go outside, they heard a loud thud. They both stopped talking, staring at the door. No sound. Hyunjin looked at Minho, caressing the back of his hand with his thumb; “ _I’ll be right back, ok? Call Chan if you want_.”

When Hyunjin took a step outside, he almost immediately smelled it. That strong smell, familiar smell. Carefully, he walked along the path, making sure no one was surrounding him. He could feel his pulse going crazy in his ears. He was scared. He wanted to be brave and prove to both Minho and Chan that he was not a burden.

There it was. In the middle of the path. A body, lying on the floor, eyes closed and mouth half-opened. Hyunjin stopped a few centimetres next to the body, crouching down to look at it more closely. It was a young boy, around his age—human age wise. He had freckles all over his face, blond dyed hair. Hyunjin leaned a bit forward; he saw fangs in his mouth. _That smell…_

When Felix opened his eyes again, he didn’t recognize his bedroom. He was on a bed, a very soft bed, yet not his. He felt rested, satiated. He didn’t remember eating, but his hunger was gone. He stretched his arms, sitting at the edge of the bed, looking around the room. It was pretty big. The bed was against one corner, a dresser was on the opposite wall, next to the door. There was a desk at the end of the bed, a laptop on it, and that was it. The walls didn’t have any pictures on it. There was one window right behind the bed, with closed curtains. Felix wasn’t scared, because everything smelled like _home_. It smelled familiar, and it reassured him. He didn’t know where he was, but he felt _at peace_.

Right as he was about to get up, the door opened. “ _You’re awake?_ ” Felix smiled and nodded at the question; “ _I am, Chan. Where am I?_ ” He sat back on the bed as Chan closed the door and sat next to him.

“ _You’re in my house, in my bedroom. You fainted, and my friend found you. He brought you home, we fed you and I let you sleep in my bed. How are you feeling?_ ” Chan’s voice was soft, reassuring.

“ _I’m feeling fine, actually. I should go home, though. My parents are probably worried sick_.”

Chan hummed, yet he didn’t let Felix get up. He put his hand on the boy’s knee, squeezing it a bit. “ _I don’t think it’s a good idea_.”

“ _Why not?_ ” Felix wasn’t as worried as he should have been.

“ _You’re not safe there_.” Chan sounded sure of that. It was enough for Felix to nod in agreement.

“ _They’re gonna look for me_ ,” Felix added, his head hanging low.

“ _Oh… Ok that is a very fair point,_ ” Chan chuckled, getting up from the bed. “ _Well, stay here for today, it’s pretty late anyway. And I’ll walk you home tomorrow, is that ok with you?_ ” He smiled softly; Felix nodded.

When they got out of the bedroom, Felix met Minho and Hyunjin for the _first_ time. Minho had furrowed eyebrows, Hyunjin was… Hyunjin had no particular expression on his face, simply waiting for Chan to talk. The freckled boy felt small, hiding a bit behind Chan’s back. There was something intimidating about the two other boys, that somehow wasn’t there with Chan. Chan was _safe_ , Chan was _peaceful_ , Chan was _home_.

“ _What are we supposed to do with him?_ ” Minho whispered to Chan, eyeing the boy who was looking through their kitchen for food. “ _He doesn’t even know he got turned!_ ”

“ _Hey, it’s ok. We just need to… Tell him without scaring him_ ,” Chan whispered back.

“ _Can’t we just let him discover by himself? Just let him go home and, he’ll find out?_ ” Hyunjin suggested.

“ _He clearly won’t, and he’ll end up passing out again. He’s just going to unconsciously starve and maybe next time he’ll end up hurting someone instead of passing out in the forest. Is that what you want?_ ” Chan’s voice was stern, protective even.

“ _No, of course not!_ ” Hyunjin pouted. “ _You should tell him, then_.”

“ _Tell me what?_ ” Felix asked, a box of cereal in his hands, standing next to the three boys who were whispering in their own world.

Felix thought it was a joke. He thought they were pranking him. But as soon as Minho had his fangs out, and provoked him a bit, he felt his own fangs growing. It scared him. He touched his fangs with his fingertip, looking at himself in the mirror. His eyes grew big when he saw the three boys behind him, with fangs and long nails. He turned around, staring at them, his eyes looking around the room, searching for anything to indicate it was a dream—a flying object or anything. He found none. He wasn’t dreaming. “ _But how… what happened?_ ” Felix started sobbing, falling on his knees, weak.

Chan was the first to walk towards him, crouching down to caress the boy’s dyed hair. “ _You really don’t remember?_ ” His voice was soft, but sad at the same time. The younger boy looked up, staring at his eyes. He shuddered a bit; “ _I just remember… I don’t know. I’ve always had this, this condition kind of thing? Every now and then I sleepwalk. One day I woke up in the middle of the streets, I just thought my parents had forgotten to lock the door and I got out?_ ” Minho laughed a bit behind them, humming; “ _Maybe you did sleepwalk. And a stupidly angry vampire fed on you. And you got a bit of his blood in your mouth if sleepwalking you decided to fight back._ ” Chan stared at Minho, gulping a bit. He then looked back at Felix, who seemed to ponder the thought, whispering a _it makes sense_ so low that he wasn’t even sure he had said it in the first place.

Knowing about _what_ _he was_ made him rethink his previous need. Should he really go back home? What if he ended up hurting his family? What if his family didn’t accept him for who he was? He was lost. And somehow, he ended up knocking on Chan’s bedroom door.

“ _Mm? Who is it?_ ” he heard Chan’s voice from inside of the room.

“ _Me. It’s um… It’s Felix_.” The door opened on a half-naked Chan. Felix blushed, looking at his bare torso. “ _I—I um. Can I sleep in you room tonight?_ ” He was expecting the older to tell him to go back on the couch. It didn’t happen. Chan hummed, moving slightly to the side to let him enter the room. Once inside, he stayed standing in the middle of the room. “ _Thank you_ —”

“ _Sit on the bed and get comfy, make yourself at home, ok?_ ” Chan sat at his desk, cross-legged on his chair.

Felix silently sat on the bed, looking at the older’s back. He didn’t even realise he had started to doze off until Chan softly pushed him on the bed to lie down, sliding the blanket over his body. With no sign of fear, Felix fell asleep in no time.

“ _Where are you going?_ ” Chan asked, looking as Felix was dressed and about to leave.

“ _I need to go back to work,_ ” the younger stated as if it was the most logical answer.

“ _What? No…_ ”

“ _I can’t quit my work like that_ ,” Felix sounded offended.

“ _I’ll walk you there when I’ll go to work too, ok?_ ” Chan finally said, the other two vampires looking at him weirdly.

Chan got dressed in a few seconds, taking his bag with him before leaving the house, walking next to Felix. The boy didn’t seem that troubled by the fact he was a vampire. Nor did he seemed scared to live with three strangers. _Is that because of the vampire bond?_ Chan wondered, walking aimlessly. It wasn’t until Felix took his hand in his and yelped that Chan got out of his thoughts. “ _What is it?_ ” He looked around, caressing the boy’s hand with his thumb.

“ _I heard a noise…_ ” Felix slightly hugged Chan, one arm sliding around his waist.

Chan looked around one more time, paying more attention to their surroundings. They were still in the middle of the forest. He then smiled a bit, kissing the boy’s head; “ _It’s only an animal, don’t worry. It’s their territory too_ ,” he explained with a soft voice.

They then resumed their walking, Chan stopped in front of Felix’s workplace. “ _I work like two streets away, ok? If anything happens, just call me. I’ll be there in no time. If you ever feel hungry, try to wait until we’re home; I’ll give you something to eat. I’ll text you my work schedule, can you try to make yours fit with mine?_ ” His voice was stern, yet soft. It wasn’t an order, more like a suggestion. Yet, Felix only find it in himself to nod and go to work with a smile on his face. As soon as he entered, he saw his co-workers eyeing him; “ _was that your boyfriend?_ ” he blushed brightly, wishing he could say yes.

Felix ended his workday, waiting for Chan to pick him up. He sat in front of the convenience store, drinking the milkshake his boss had given him, looking around. “ _Felix! Finished working?_ ” the boy looked up, seeing his friend waving at him. He waved back, nodding his head. “ _Wanna go to the arcade with me? Everyone’s there! We texted you_ ,” his friend said, walking towards the freckled boy. He pondered the thought, looking around if Chan was coming. He then looked at his phone, seeing that he had fifteen more minutes to wait until Chan’s work was over. “ _I can’t stay long, though_.” His friend laughed, circling his shoulders as they started walking; “ _Why? Your parents gave you a curfew now?_ ” Felix only laughed, not answering, simply sending a text to Chan that he was going to hang out with his friend and will tell him once he can pick him up.

Chan was working, so he didn’t see his text right away. However, once he did, he felt a wave of worry all over his body. ‘ ** _Where are you?_** ’ he texted the boy. No answer. He left his workplace, saying _goodbye_ to everyone, going to Felix’s workplace. Starting from there, he followed the smell. He ended up in front of the arcade, watching as Felix was playing with a group of other young people. _So, he really was_ … Still, he took his phone and called Felix, watching as the boy stopped playing to check his phone, answering right away as he saw the name displaying on his screen.

“ _I’m outside, it’s time to go home_ ,” Chan stated.

“ _Now? But I—Can’t I play a bit more?_ ” Felix’s voice was low, pleading. It made Chan’s inside turn.

“ _Hyunjin is waiting for us, he wants to hunt with me. And I’m not going home without you_.”

“ _Mm, ‘kay. Give me time to say goodbye and I’m out_.”

Felix put his phone back in his pocket, telling his friends he had to leave. Chan, even from outside, could hear all the disappointed plea, watching as Felix hugged every friend of his, walking outside of the arcade. “ _How did you even find me?_ ” he asked as he grabbed the older’s arm. “ _Secret_ ,” the vampire stated with a smile as they walked home.

Hyunjin didn’t even want to go hunting in the first place, but Chan’s eyes were so dark that he didn’t find it in himself to say no. Which is why he ended up running through the forest, following Chan as they were hunting a deer. They could hear the animal’s heartbeat, its blood running through its veins, the smell of fear from being hunted. Chan suddenly took a left turn, gesturing Hyunjin to keep going straight. Which he did. He always listened to Chan, even more when they were hunting. He didn’t know why, maybe it was because he was the oldest? Or was it because Chan’s hunts were never fruitless? Whatever the reason was, he kept running straight, seeing the deer from the corner of his left eye. “ _Jump_ ,” he heard Chan yelling. Hyunjin jumped, and the timing was right. As soon as he fell back on the floor, the deer went right beneath him, getting trap between Hyunjin’s legs. He squeezed his legs tighter, the deer making a strangled noise. Chan arrived a bit later, a smile on his face; “ _Nice catch, Hyunjin!_ ” he kneeled in front of the deer, caressing its head a bit; “ _I’m sorry it has to happen to you_ ,” he then covered the deer’s eyes, letting his nail dig deep on its neck. The two vampires took a turn feeding on it, leaving just enough to fill two blood bags—one for Minho and one for Felix. They weren’t used to feed that many people at once, they’ve been three for so long. Still, they stayed next to the animal until it had completely died, walking back home with the blood bags in hands.

“ _Is he going to stay?_ ” Hyunjin stopped walking right before they entered the path.

“ _Who? Felix?_ ” Hyunjin nodded. “ _Well, yes. He’s going to stay, forever maybe._ ” Chan had stopped too, turning to look at the younger boy. “ _Why? Is everything ok?_ ”

“ _I don’t think Minho likes him,_ ” it wasn’t a surprising statement as Minho didn’t seem to like other vampires that much. “ _And I—I don’t think—_ ”

“ _You don’t like him either?_ ” The older’s voice was stern. It made Hyunjin shudder.

“ _It’s not that I don’t like him, but we know nothing about him. He didn’t even listen to you when you said to wait for him after work. Is he trying to get recognized? What if he’s going to turn his back on us? Like Minho’s dad and—What if?_ ”

Chan simply slid his arm around the other’s shoulders, hugging him reassuringly. “ _Everything’s going to be ok, trust me on this_.”

As soon as they got home, Hyunjin’s words were proven. Minho didn’t like him, and he wasn’t hiding it. When Chan opened the door, he found Felix sitting in the kitchen, Minho talking harshly to him. “ _You’re not even going to stay here, Chan just took pity on you_ ,” he said right when the two hunters came home. Hyunjin stayed in front of the door, scared of what was going to happen. Everyone in the room could smell Chan’s anger. It was growing wide. “ _Minho, a word?_ ” he said, putting in a loud thud the blood bags on the table. Minho huffed, walking behind the oldest, following him to the living-room. Felix looked at Hyunjin, pleading eyes as he heard the two oldest yelling at each other. The vampire walked to the kitchen, stopping right next to the younger, letting him hug his waist, hiding his face against his stomach. He looked like a small child. _Maybe he wasn’t going to cause trouble_.

There were a few issues that came with Felix’s arrival. The first one, was how to deal with his old human life; was he supposed to keep going to university? What about his parents? And his job? The latter got quickly resolved, he’ll work at the same hours as Chan. About his parents, well, Felix said he’d deal with it and somehow it had worked—no one really knew what he had said, though. For his student life, well, after talking for a few hours, he had decided to give up on it. It wasn’t like he would be able to study well in these conditions.

Another issue was the _finding your ability_ issue. It didn’t seem like a big deal to Felix, yet everyone stated it was _the most important part_. Hyunjin recommended Chan as a mentor, and Felix was pleased with the idea. However, Chan didn’t have the time to. It wasn’t the same as when Hyunjin had entered their lives. Chan wasn’t a simple worker who could have half of his day off. Minho wasn’t how he used to either, he couldn’t take care of the chores anymore. No one really talked about it, but they all knew that Minho was one string away from breaking again. Now, Chan needed to work a full day every day to have enough money to pay all their bills. They didn’t buy food, but they still used water, electricity and so on. It wasn’t coming like magic, they had to pay for it. “ _Minho, you’ll help him find his ability._ ” Felix was disappointed, yet mostly scared.

Minho didn’t really know any other way than what his father had thought him, so he sat Felix at a desk and gave him readings about vampires. Confused, the younger had stared at him with an arched brow. “ _Just read, then we’ll see what fits you_.” Minho’s voice wasn’t as stern as Chan’s, yet it made him shudder ten times more. He turned his back on him, starting to read right away.

It hadn’t been no pleasure cruise to read all about vampires’ life. Mostly because the first twenty pages were written in cursive in old English, and Felix had to ask every two words what it meant. Then, the handwriting had changed at least three times. He somehow had recognized the last handwriting as Chan’s. It took him almost ten hours, but now Felix was unbeatable on what a vampire was, how to become one, how to hunt, what a vampire could do, how to hide, and every little detail about what his ancestors had been through. Looking at Minho, he couldn’t imagine him leaving that kind of life. Neither could he with Hyunjin. However, with Chan, maybe. Maybe Chan had.

“ _Do you remember all the abilities?_ ” Minho asked once they were outside. They had gone to the middle of the forest, about to test every ability to find out which one Felix had.

“ _I do_ ,” Felix answered, stern, ready to find out his true self.

“ _Ok, now listen closely to me_.”

First, they had tried the enhanced vision. It was Hyunjin’s ability, a rare one for turned vampires, so Minho was almost sure Felix didn’t have it. Which turned out to be true. Felix could see far, but not _that_ far. Then, maybe because of his pride, Minho had tested him with his strength. Breaking woods. _Easy_ , he had said. However, the noise Felix’s hand made as it hit the stock of wood was enough to say _they weren’t alike_. Enhanced hearing? Wasn’t Felix’s. Persuasion? Wasn’t that efficient. Inability to get hurt? His broken hand said otherwise. The list went on and on, Felix never being good enough to check an ability. “ _Maybe you’re just a normal turned vampire, with no special ability?_ ” Minho suddenly said, a bit tired and annoyed as the night was about to fall. “ _We didn’t try the speed_ ,” Felix said. Minho laughed, looking at Felix with an arched brow; “ _You won’t ever be as good as Chan, but sure, try_.”

Minho didn’t talk the rest of the night, Felix praising himself for finding his ability. Super speed. How could it be super speed? It was Chan’s ability. They couldn’t have two super runners in this house. Why was Felix almost as good as Chan? Why could they almost run at the same speed? Why could Felix run faster than Hyunjin? Than Minho?

Two months. It had been two months since Felix was part of this household. He went to work three days per week, at the same hours than Chan. He slept in Chan’s room, the latter sleeping on the couch most of the time. He had learned how to hunt with Chan, “ _you’re the only one running fast enough_ ,” Minho had stated, refusing to teach him any longer.

The very first hunt was… something. Felix listened as Chan enumerated the security rules, what every order meant, what to do in case the animal ran away, if he got hurt and so on. Felix was scared. He could barely register Chan’s voice from all the other noises the forest made, until the older grabbed his arms and asked if he was ready. “ _I think I am. Don’t leave me, ok?_ ” Chan promised, taking his hand in his as they started running. It was a small hare they were hunting. Chan had chosen it because despite running fast, it wasn’t that hard to catch. Felix was holding onto Chan’s hand as if his life depended on it. They ran, ran, ran, Chan told Felix to follow the hare. He let go of his hand, turning left and jumping on a tree. Felix continued to run after the hare yet looking from time to time to look where Chan was, anxiety making its way inside of him. “ _Chan… Chan, where are you?_ ” he said in a low voice. He only got rustling noises from the trees as an answer. He kept on running, feeling out of breath. “ _Stop now_ ,” Chan’s voice echoed through the forest. Felix stopped. The hare stopped too, looking left and right, about to start running again when Chan fell on top of it, holding its neck. Felix walked towards him, staring at the frightened animal.

He couldn’t look. He couldn’t look as Chan’s nail dug into the animal; he couldn’t get himself to feed on it, tears welling in his eyes. He waited until his blood bag was ready and he fed on it, not looking at the now dead animal as he took Chan’s hand in his.

The next few hunts he took part of were almost the same, he still couldn’t get himself to feed on the animal itself, yet he didn’t tear up anymore. “ _I’m proud of you, Lix_ ,” Chan once said, ruffling his hair a bit. It made Felix blush, humming at the compliment.

“ _What? No! You’re not going to pay the bills with your money. You worked hard for that_ ,” Chan almost yelled, pushing Felix’s money away from him.

“ _But I live here…_ ” Felix stated, still handing him part of his money.

“ _Exactly! He lives here! Why shouldn’t he pay for what he uses?_ ” Minho suddenly said, not moving from the couch to take part of this conversation.

“ _You also live here yet you don’t pay anything, as far as I know,_ ” Chan said in a low voice.

“ _Because we, unlike him, are not allowed to work. He is strangely allowed to work yet he shouldn’t use his money? What’s he gonna do with it?_ ”

“ _Save it in his bank account and use it for whatever he likes._ ” He heard Minho huff. “ _What? You’re jealous? Do you want pocket money too? I already know what you’ll use it on! You,_ ” he pointed at Minho; “you’re _gonna buy coffee. And you,_ ” he then pointed at Hyunjin, who was sitting quietly next to Minho; “ _the only think you care about is your Alice in Wonderland book. So, no, you’re not getting pocket money as I’m already buying you coffee and not touching your book. As for you,_ ” he turned towards Felix, who was still handing his money; “ _I’m not accepting your money, so you better put it back in your wallet_.” He then left the room, closing his bedroom door in a loud thud. The three vampires stared at each other, wondering what all of this was about.

During these two months, Felix had spent a large amount of time with Chan—if not all of his time. There was something in him pulling him towards the older vampire, like a magnet. Maybe it was attraction? Infatuation? The thought did occur to him, mostly when he found himself blushing every time he had gotten a compliment, or simply when he held his hand. Something felt nice with Chris, he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was, but it felt nice. It seemed reciprocated, as Chan always took his side, and went easy on him compared to the two other boys. He never asked to be treated differently, nor did he ask Chan to stop.

“ _Can I ask you something?_ ” Felix asked, lying his head on Chan’s stomach, their hands intertwined. Chan hummed, it resonated in Felix’s head. “ _How long have you lived like that?_ ”

“ _You mean, as a vampire?_ ” Felix nodded, caressing the older’s fingers with his. “ _527 years. It’s been a long ride_ ,” he chuckled, turning a bit to have a better look at the freckled boy.

“ _Oh wow, you’re old!_ ” They both laughed. “ _How was it, to say goodbye to your family?_ ” He felt Chan’s hand stiffen in his as he asked.

“ _I never really said goodbye_ ,” he started, turning to be on his back again, staring at his ceiling. His bed had never felt this uncomfortable. “ _They said I was a monster and asked me to leave. I looked over them as much as I could, only seeing them die of natural causes_.”

“ _What? How? Wait, a monster? How? Chan…_ ” Felix’s voice sounded pitiful and it made Chan’s inside turn in embarrassment. The younger got up a bit, caressing the boy’s cheek. “ _You’re not a monster_.”

“ _I killed my little sister, Felix_ ,” there were tears in his eyes. One hand on Felix’s, staring right into his eyes. He didn’t see fear, nor disgust.

“ _I’m sure it wasn’t on purpose and she forgave you long time ago, Chan_.” Felix leaned forward, kissing the tip of his nose. It made Chan smile a bit, tears still rolling down his cheek as he remembered his sister’s face.

Felix is a curious boy, just like any twenty-year-old boy is. It isn’t that surprising that he wants to know more about vampires, or about the people he lives with. However, it infuriated Minho whenever he heard Felix ask Chan about his life, and that Chan answered him, when he used to ignore the question whenever Minho or Hyunjin asked. It made Minho’s anger rose and boil. Still, he kept it to himself, he may have his reasons. Whatever they were, he had his reason, right?

Minho came back from a hunt, Hyunjin was sleeping in his bedroom, Chan and Felix were sitting in the living-room. The TV was on, but they were talking. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop. He simply wanted to put the blood bags in the fridge and go to his room. But he heard it. He heard Chan tell about his first meeting with the devil. He heard it all, and that was enough for his anger to boil once again.

He walked to the living-room, tapping three times on Chan’s shoulder; “ _Can we talk?_ ” Chan looked at him, blinking a few times before agreeing, kissing the top of Felix’s head before getting up and following Minho to the kitchen.

“ _Why do you trust him?_ ” Minho asked, starring at Chan with dark eyes.

“ _What do you mean?_ ”

“ _Please don’t play dumb with me Chan. Why are you telling him things you’ve been hiding away from us all this time?_ ”

“ _It’s not what you think…_ ” Chan started, not even sure of what he was trying to say.

“ _Oh really? Because what I think is that you’re trusting this stranger with your deepest secrets when we’ve been there since the beginning and caring for you, but you’ve never trusted us enough to even tell us one secret._ ” Minho sounded hurt, genuinely hurt, and maybe close to cry. It made Chan’s soul break a bit, he felt sorry for Minho. He never intended to hurt anyone.

“ _Minho, I swear I can explain._ ”

“ _Then go ahead._ ” The vampire said, his head high as he stared at Chan, waiting for an explanation.

“ _It’s… Well, you know what? I don’t have to justify myself to you._ ”

“ _What? Of course, you do, Chan! What the heck? You think it’s just ok to act like that and not give us any explanation?_ ” His anger was high once again, he was ready to punch him in the face if he tried to run away again.

“ _I trust him the same way you trusted Jisung! Same reason, understood? Just leave me alone now_.” Chan’s eyes were teary, his cheeks were red.

“ _Wait, what? You… You love him?_ ” It came out both as a surprise and a question. It somehow made sense. They were always together, he let him sleep in his room, he protected him the same way he had protected Jisung. It made perfect sense.

“ _… Yes, I do._ ” Chan confessed, head low, eyes still teary.

None of them heard Felix enter the kitchen, until he spoke up. Staring right at Chan, cheeks bright red and hands shaking. “ _You love me?_ ”


	9. Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan never intended things to go this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Little disclaimer, there is a smut scene in this chapter. It isn't /that/ explicit, however if you feel uncomfortable reading it, and as it isn't that important to understand the chapter, I put some ' ** ' at the beginning and end of the scene, so you can skip it.

This isn’t exactly what Chan had expected to happen. The shakiness in Felix’s eyes and hands had made him think of a totally opposite outcome. Yet, here he was, with the boy wrapped around his torso, head flushed against his clothes. He wasn’t sure how to react. Did he love Felix? Probably yes; he liked him that was for sure, but love? He liked Minho and Hyunjin, they were his _family_. Felix, well, he was part of the _family_ too. He didn’t even know why he had said that in the first place, maybe just to get Minho off of his back. He didn’t expect Felix to hear him, nor was he planning on letting him know. He thought about, he doesn’t even know, tell Minho to keep it a secret? The plan was for Minho to _believe it_ and to _leave him alone_ , but now? Now, Felix was telling him how happy he was because he felt the same, Minho was looking at him with fond eyes, probably believing that he finally was going to be _happy_ , and Hyunjin, well, he was looking at them from the door, a smile on his face. _Screw this_ , he thought, circling the smaller boy’s body with his arms, hugging him tighter. It wasn’t going to be hard to pretend loving him, right?

It was hard. So hard, for someone who never loved in his entire life. Everything felt foreign. Since that day, Felix was _acting as his boyfriend_ , which wasn’t really difficult. They were already spending all of their time together, it was just that now, Felix held his hand non-platonically. Now, Felix kissed him. Their first kiss… It was something. Chan had never kissed anyone beside Minho, and Hyunjin—it had happened a few times, when Hyunjin was _jealous_ of Minho and Jisung. Felix, him, had kissed _plenty of people_ despite his younger age. He wasn’t anxious about this, nor should Chan be, but he was. He was anxious, because it felt wrong. He couldn’t kiss Felix, no, he couldn’t. It felt wrong. He couldn’t tell Felix how wrong it felt, so he kept it to himself. He stared at the boy’s eyes, squeezing his hand a bit as he saw him leaning in. His first kiss had happened in almost the same way. Minho was straddling him, kissing him while caressing his cheeks. And now, he was sitting on the couch, Felix on his lap, both of the boy’s hand on his cheek. Their lips finally met, Felix closed his eyes, a small smile appearing on his mouth, right against Chan’s. The latter was disgusted. Yet, he enjoyed it. The kiss felt wrong, but nice. So nice. He had soft plump lips; it wasn’t as soft as Minho, nor as plump as Hyunjin’s, but they were perfect. Felix tasted like peaches. His lips were a bit sweet, tender. He moved his lips against them, one hand resting on the boy’s back, the other tangled in his dyed hair. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the sweet part of the kiss, the one that made him feel on a cloud. But as soon as he enjoyed it a bit too much, he felt sick. Nauseous. Suddenly, he pushed Felix’s off of his lap, breathing deeply with tears in his eyes. The younger stared at him, caressing his hand tenderly, “ _Is everything ok?_ ” No, nothing was ok. The entire situation wasn’t ok. Still, he couldn’t say a word. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, leaning on the side to put his head on Felix’s lap, trying to forget about the disgusted feeling in his soul.

Felix had asked a few times what had happened that day, if it was something he had done, if it was something that had happened before. He even had asked Minho and Hyunjin. Both boys had seemed troubled; “ _Last time I kissed him, he wasn’t about to puke in my mouth, so I don’t know_ ,” Minho’s words echoed in Felix’s head. He was about to go on with his activity when it finally struck him. “ _What do you mean ‘last time you kissed him’?_ ” Minho and Hyunjin eyed each other before bursting in laughter; “ _He didn’t tell you?_ ” Felix shook his head, looking at them with wide eyes. And that is when they told him about their _platonic kissing_. Felix didn’t know how to react to this information, so he simply hummed and went to Chan’s room, closing the door and sitting in the middle of the bed, staring at the wall until he felt his soul leaving his body, his vision getting blurry and his mind running wild. Was he jealous? Angry? Disgusted? Indifferent? Envious? He didn’t even know.

Chan entered his bedroom thinking he’d be alone. Seeing Felix made him jump a bit but seeing him having no reaction at all made him worry. “ _Felix?_ ” he called, the younger stayed still. “ _Felix, can you hear me?_ ” He walked towards him, wondering if he was asleep. “ _Everything’s ok?_ ” He softly put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, making him jump with fright. “ _I’m sorry, is everything ok?_ ” Chan sat next to him, caressing his shoulder. Felix followed him with his eyes, breathing unevenly; “ _Can I ask you something?_ ” Chan sat cross-legged next to Felix, turning his full body towards him. Felix did the same, hands resting on his knees. “ _Did you really kiss Minho and Hyunjin?_ ” It caught Chan off guard, making him blush and stutter. “ _So, you did_ ,” Felix’s voice sounded… he sounded so sad. Chan’s soul broke a tiny bit, looking at him that way. Quickly, he grabbed the younger’s hands, squeezing them a bit, “ _I used to, yes. Platonically. It doesn’t mean anything to us, and we don’t kiss anymore. What’s wrong, Lix?_ ” The surname may have been enough for Felix to calm down, or maybe it was the way Chan’s thumb was caressing his hands? Whatever it was, he felt all of his emotions going away in an instant. “ _Do you prefer kissing them than me?_ ” Felix’s voice was small.

“ _What makes you say that?_ ”

“ _You pushed me away when I kissed you_ ,” Felix’s words were true, he couldn’t deny them. He couldn’t tell him he _felt disgusted_ while kissing him, anything it’d do would be making the situation worse. Chan thought, thought and thought again, trying to act quickly as to not make Felix any sadder. He tightly shut his eyes a few seconds, mustering some courage before opening them again and crashing his lips against Felix’s. This time, the disgusted feeling went away fast. The freckled boy circled his neck, moving his lips against his. His lips were still as sweet as before, the peachy taste even stronger. It felt nice. So nice. Oh, so nice. Chan let himself drown in the peachy taste as he kissed Felix deeper and deeper, cupping his cheeks with both of his hands, keeping his eyes tightly shut. Chan kept the tiny voice in his head far, as far as he could.

Since then, Felix would kiss him at every occasion he got. In the morning, when they were alone in a room, when they were sitting next to each other, before leaving for work, when Chan picked him up from work, when they arrived home, when they went to bed at night… And every kiss Chan got, a tiny voice in his head kept on screaming how wrong it was. _You can’t kiss him, you can’t kiss him, you shouldn’t kiss him_. The voice kept on getting louder and louder, until it got unbearable. “ _I know!_ ” Chan suddenly yelled, in the middle of the living-room. The voice annoyed him. It was so damn annoying he couldn’t keep it to himself, he needed to make it shut the hell up. He just didn’t expect to yell and alert the three boys living with him. But there they were, at the entrance of the living-room, staring at him. “ _Is everything ok?_ ” The oldest stared back at them, _should I tell them?_ All the possible outcomes flashed in his mind. Watching them run away from him in his head was frightening enough to convince him to keep it to himself, once again. “ _Yeah, I just—I was thinking and—_ ” he couldn’t even come up with a lie. The three other boys were still staring at him, waiting for his explanation. “ _I thought that—Well, mm. How can I say—Oh, yeah. Wait_ ,” he turned around, his back facing the three vampires. He rubbed his two hands against his face, sighing loudly against his palms. When he turned back to face them, he had a smile on his face; “ _I think I know why Felix has the same ability as me_.” His words came in a whisper. He wasn’t even sure where he was going with that. Still, it intrigued the other boys. They all walked towards him, sitting on the couch and staring at him. “ _Really? Why?_ ” Minho was the one to ask. Chan gulped, eyes quivering as he tried to make a coherent sentence.

Chan had somehow managed to find an excuse and make the three vampires believe him, leaving him alone in the living-room once again. It was a miracle that he had managed to get out of this, as Minho was usually very quick to catch on things.

When he went to his bedroom, he found Felix sound asleep on his bed. He sighed, lying down behind him, an arm around his waist and his face against his back. He kissed the boy’s shoulder, closing his eyes and trying to sleep. His stomach churned a bit, his head spinning and spinning and spinning so much he could throw up. _It feels nice, but so wrong_ , he thought. He took a deep breath, Felix smelt like peaches. It eased him. He closed his eyes tighter, sliding his leg between Felix’s just enough to get closer to him, letting the peachy scent surround him and put him to sleep.

Weeks after weeks, it became more and more unbearable for Chan. Every single time his eyes landed on Felix, he found himself in a tug of war in his own mind. One part of him completely in love with Lee Felix, the other one screaming how wrong and disgusting it was. And sadly, the latter was always the one winning in the end, making Chan run away in the forest to be able to breathe again. It wasn’t Felix’s fault. No, never. Felix was—He was all Chan could ever dream of. He was perfection embodied.

One night, Chan entered his bedroom, and for once, Felix was not asleep. He was lying on the bed, scrolling on his phone. Chan sat next to him, looking at the screen; “ _What are you doing?_ ”

“ _Looking at my friends’ twitter_ ,” the younger stated as if it made sense to Chan.

Not wanted to look _that old_ , he hummed and lied down next to him, all his weight resting on his elbow, face flushed against his hand. Felix looked at him from the corner of his eye, a small smile making its way on his face. He closed the app and locked his phone, putting it on his bedside table—beside Chan—before turning on his side too, staring at his boyfriend. He chuckled; “ _You know you’re really handsome?_ ”

Chan blushed a bit, his free hand caressing the boy’s face, putting a strand of hair behind his ear, “ _So are you._ ”

Felix chuckled again. He put his free hand on Chan’s cheek, leaning in a bit. Their noses brushed against each other. He looked into Chan’s eyes, waiting a bit before closing the gap between their lips. It started off as a soft kiss, as they always shared. Chan’s mind was still screaming, but he let himself drown in the peachy flavour of Felix. He closed his eyes, circling the boy’s waist as he pulled him closer to him. The freckled boy’s tongue caressed his lips, he parted them. Felix’s tongue made Chan’s mouth hotter than it already was. He caressed it with his own, discovering the boy’s taste. He caressed his cheek a bit, his fingers brushing against his hair. Felix whimpered against his lips, his body right against his own. He broke the kiss, staring into his boyfriend’s eyes. They were filled with lust; it made his cheeks burning hot.

**

Felix pushed Chan a bit, straddling him. The older boy was lying flat on the bed, looking at the other’s hands. They were caressing his chest, pulling his shirt up at the same time. He bit on his bottom lip, getting up just enough to get his shirt off, taking Felix’s off soon after. They both stared at each other’s body, it was actually Chan’s first time seeing Felix shirtless. He had freckles down his chest, not as many as on his face, but still a fair amount. He had slightly toned abs that made him run his hands against. The boy giggled, leaning over to kiss his nose. Chan was still staring at his chest, like in a trance. It made Felix smirk, as he roamed his hands on the older’s chest too, tracing each one of his ab, then moving up to his nipple. Chan breathed sharply, his hands freezing wherever they were on Felix’s body. It made the latter smile bigger as he continued to brush his fingertips on the older boy’s nipples, soon leaving one of them untouched. When Chan started to whine at the loss of touch, Felix leaned in, taking it in-between his teeth. The older once again breathed sharply, one hand getting tangled in the younger’s hair, tugging softly at it as he closed his eyes.

“ _Fe—Felix, I n—Felix I need to tell y—_ ” he stopped talking, closing his mouth tightly as he felt a moan coming up. “ _Felix_.” The freckled boy finally stopped torturing his nipple, kissing it with a loud noise before sitting correctly on Chan’s lap, looking like a small animal waiting for its master’s words. “ _I’ve never—I’ve never done this before_.”

“ _Oh, it’s your first time? Like, for real?_ ” Felix’s voice was soft, there was no judgment in his tone. Chan felt safe.

“ _Never, no_.”

“ _Well, mm… If you wanna stop, just tell me, ‘kay?_ ” He leaned in again, kissing his lips softly. Chan kissed him again as soon as he broke the kiss, trapping his bottom lip between his teeth.

“ _Wait, because, you have?_ ” He put his hand on the back of Felix’s head, preventing him from moving further away, their faces at a few centimetres from each other.

“ _Well, I—Yes, actually. With my—With my ex-partner. But is—Do you really wanna talk about this now?_ ” Pink dust had made its way on his cheeks, eyes still filled with lust.

“ _You’re right, let’s talk about it later_.” He let go of his head, kissing him once again.

Mouth moving against each other’s, Felix moved one of his hand down Chan’s chest, resting it right above the bulge in his pajama pants. Chan’s hips buckled up a bit, a moan escaping him. His cheeks were burning hot. Felix broke the kiss, slowly, moving down to kiss his neck. He bit a bit of his skin, the tip of his fangs brushing against it. Chan inhaled deeply; one hand still tangled in Felix’s hair as he kept his eyes tightly shut.

Everything happened fast. He didn’t have time to register what was really happening that he was kissing Felix again, both of their pajama pants on the floor. His mind kept on screaming about how wrong all of this was. He ignored it, caressing the boy’s skin with both of his hands. They kept on kissing, lips brushing against each other, deep hot breaths hitting their skin. Felix’s had one hand on his tight, the other palping the bulge that had form in his underwear. Gulping away the lump in his throat, Chan let one hand slid inside of Felix’s underwear, resting on his butt, palping it a bit. Felix moaned against his lips, biting them slightly. As soon as Chan felt in control of his body, it all went fast again. He didn’t have time to register things. Felix was biting onto his neck, their underwear were on the floor and his hand was moving up and down his cock. He tried to ignore the voices in his head, moaning against the younger’s ear.

“ _Wait, Chan… Wait, do you—do you have a condom?_ ” Felix suddenly said, sitting back on Chan’s thigh. His hair was a mess, his cheeks were flushed red, there was sweat on his bare skin. He looked incredibly perfect, at that moment. Chan blinked, his finger tracing circle on his skin. Felix chuckled, asking one more time. It finally hit Chan that he _had to answer_.

“ _Oh, no. I don’t. But it’s not—It’s not like I have anything, and neither—neither do you, we’re—well, technically dead. And healing every second. We won’t get anything, if that’s wh—_ ” Felix cut his words by kissing him, breaking the kiss almost as soon as Chan registered it happening.

“ _You’re talking too much, love_.” He giggled, kissing the older’s lips tenderly as he lied down on top of him, one leg between Chan’s. The older blushed at the nickname, liking it a bit too much for his mind’s opinion.

Chan had always come off as the confident type, however, right there, he was not. Everything felt foreign to him, he didn’t know what to do. Felix saw it right away, taking the lead for everything, sometimes taking Chan’s hands in his to guide them wherever he wanted to be touched, or to show him how to do it. Still, he appreciated being the one in control, for once. He enjoyed seeing Chan’s flustered face as he sat on top of him, legs spread wide as he fingered himself open. Chan was staring at everything but his face, cheeks bright red, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. The freckled boy couldn’t keep his eyes off of him, trying to make eye contact. He did, all night, never succeeded, not even once.

“ _Do you—Love, how do you wanna do it?_ ” Felix took his three fingers out of his hole, hovering over his boyfriend to kiss his cheek—or to try to get an eye contact, who knows?

“ _I—How—I—_ ”

“ _Is everything ok? We can stop, I promise. It’s ok, if you don’t want to._ ” Felix still hoped he didn’t want to stop. Chan seemed troubled, deep in thought, as if he was fighting with himself. It pained Felix a bit, shouldn’t the answer be obvious? Shouldn’t he already know if he wanted to keep going or not?

“ _No, no. I swear it’s fine, I just—I don’t know how—_ ” The older took a deep breath, caressing both of Felix’s arms as he spoke; “ _I just prefer when you’re the one…in charge?_ ” he sounded unsure of his words, but his small smile made Felix melt.

Sitting with his back against the wall, Chan looked as Felix aligned himself on top of his cock, one hand tight on his shoulder. His mind was running wild, he wasn’t even sure where he was. Everything was overwhelming. He got lost in his own thoughts and moaned loudly with surprise when he felt Felix around him. It was tight. And hot. Overwhelming. He tightly gripped the boy’s waist, breathing heavily. Felix was going down slowly, too slowly for Chan, moaning and whimpering at every move he made.

Felix moved up and down his cock at a slow pace, one hand on Chan’s shoulder, the other behind him, resting on his shin. He had his back arched, neck in full display. Chan finally gained a bit more confidence, thrusting into him every time he moved up, making Felix moaned louder. He smiled, proud of him, leaning forward to kiss the boy’s neck, sucking onto it. He could feel his vocal cords vibrate at each moan, each breath. Overwhelming.

Felix’s voice was usually pretty deep, and so were his moans. Chan found it particularly attractive, but what he loved the most, was when his moans got more and more high-pitched as he got closer to his orgasm. He circled his waist, pulling him down to lay a bit on him, thrusting harder and deeper into him, Felix’s voice going higher and higher until he started to shake a bit, cum hot on Chan’s chest. Overwhelming. Tighter. It didn’t take long for the older to come, moaning loudly against the boy’s neck.

Felix got up slowly, one hand caressing the other’s cheek. He stared into his eyes, leaning in a bit to kiss him softly before getting off of him, lying down on the bed next to him. Chan got down a bit to lie next to him. Felix put his head on his shoulder, silence falling upon them as Chan hugged him tightly against his side, staring at his ceiling.

**

“ _Chan…_ ” Felix’s voice was small. He stayed laying down next to the older boy, caressing his bare torso with the tip of his fingers. “ _Do you really love me?_ ”

His words were harsh in Chan’s ears. He caressed his hair softly, staring at the ceiling; “ _Of course, why do you ask?_ ”

“ _Because you couldn’t even look at me in the eyes_ ,” his voice was getting smaller. He felt like crying. “ _You looked disgusted_.”

Chan closed his eyes, getting his hand out of Felix’s hair to circle his shoulder and pull him tighter against him. “ _Felix, I like you. Really. I just—I don’t think I can—I think I can’t date you_.”

Felix tried to get off of his chest, to get up. “ _What are you saying?_ ”

“ _I can’t date you, Felix_.”

He pushed harder; both of his hands flat on Chan’s chest. The older’s grip was too strong, he could barely move. He couldn’t even see his face. “ _Let me go, Chan_.” He had tears in his eyes.

“ _Please don’t go, I swear I can explain._ ”

“ _You dated me for five weeks, Chan. Five fucking weeks. You could’ve told me right away. Why did you even say you loved me?_ ” His voice got louder at each word, still trying to get out of his grip.

“ _Please, listen to me_.” He finally let him go, sitting on his bed, his back against the wall. Felix didn’t run away. He sat on his knees next to Chan, waiting for him to explain himself. He had tears running down his cheeks. Chan’s soul broke. “ _I love you; I really do. But I—I haven’t been honest about one thing_.”

“ _As if it was only one thing. There’s always a new secret with you, Chan. Just say it, so we can get over with it._ ” He sounded annoyed, and maybe he had all the rights to be.

“ _I’m the one who turned you_.” Felix didn’t know how to react. So, he laughed. Chan didn’t laugh. He had this serious expression on his face that scared Felix a bit. “ _I didn’t want to. I never intended to turn anyone in my damn life. I didn’t even want to have kids! But I—The Devil he—And well—I just—_ ” Felix moved a bit closer to him, putting his index finger on his lips to silence him.

“ _Shhh, breath slowly and then tell me, ok?_ ” He caressed his cheek with his free hand, Chan leaned at the touch, closing his eyes and breathing slowly.

“ _There’s this—this clause, for 1 st Generation. That we have to—we need to perpetuate the specie. I didn’t want to. I tried to do as I pleased. But he—the Devil—he decided that I couldn’t. I—I dreamed about you, I kept obsessing over you and one day I—I’m so sorry Felix. I went nuts._” The older hung his head low, taking the other’s hand in his and he kissed his palm in a loud noise. “ _I left the house, fully changed. I found you in an alleyway, you were—you were just standing there. Waiting. I turned you. I fed on you and I cut my own wrist to feed you. You blacked out and I—I left. I went home, leaving you there. I thought that was it—But then you ended up here and—and I just can’t Felix_.”

Felix didn’t know how to take all of this. He sat there, staring at the older’s face, trying to process all of the information flooding his mind. “ _Is that why I kept on having nightmares about you, when I was human? Or that I just—I feel at home with you?_ ”

Chan nodded, caressing the boy’s hand with his. “ _When you turn someone, a family bond gets created. I’m like—I’m like your father, in some way. And it—it just feels so wrong in my head, to date my son. And I’m going so damn nuts, because I love you Felix. I do, I know that I do. But I can’t keep up with the two voices fighting in my head,_ ” Chan finally told the truth, a quiet sob leaving his mouth. It had been hard enough to keep it a secret that he was the one turning Felix, but he also finally accepted the part of him that looked at Felix as a lover. It had been hard to admit, but a part of him was attracted to the boy. It drove him crazy to fight this part of him.

“ _Chan, I love you. I love you so much, I can’t just—I can’t leave everything behind. If you really don’t want this thing between us to continue, I’ll accept it. But I’m willing to make it work. We can—We can work on it, I promise. If you love me enough, we can make it work._ ” Felix’s voice was reassuring, but not enough to make Chan accept. He simply circled the boy’s waist as he leaned against him, his head hidden in the crook of his neck, quiet sobs leaving him once again.

“ _I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m scared, Felix. I’m scared_.”


	10. Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life with them was easy, until it wasn't at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could be counted as a bonus, it isn't relevant for the plot. Still hope you'll like it!

Living with Chan and Minho was easy, the addition of Felix to the household made it a bit chaotic at first though, especially for Hyunjin. The vampire was used to their previous way of living. He was the youngest, the one getting protected and favoured. He was taken care of. But now, Felix was the youngest. He entered their household and took his place. They didn’t even know where he came from. There were days when Hyunjin regretted finding him in the woods. He often wished he had never gone outside, that day. Maybe Chan would have walked past him and ignored him; Chan wasn’t the warm type of vampire, especially with strangers. He was kind, but always on alert. That is mostly why it came as a surprise when he yelled at Minho to protect Felix, that he made him stay. What was so special about him, anyway?

Hyunjin barely got out of his room; it wasn’t weird. Minho and Chan knew that, whenever they needed him, he most certainly was in his room. He didn’t have any reason to go out anyway, nor did he want to run away or leave them. He was happy, in this house. Most of the time, Hyunjin simply stayed on his bed, reading his book, over and over, imagining it in a new way every time. He never got bored of this story, never longed for another one. Staring at the book cover, brushing the fabric with his fingertips, he remembered his parents’ smile when they gave it to him. He smiled, tears forming in his eyes. Far in his head, he could still hear their voices, the happiness in their tone. He quickly shut his eyes before the next scene appeared, hugging the book tightly. “ _I love you too, mom and dad_.” He whispered to himself, breathing in and out deeply.

Over the years, Hyunjin grew closer to Minho. It wasn’t that surprising, considering the amount of time they spent alone in the house. Even before Felix’s arrival; Chan was mostly at work during the day and hunting at night, the only time they spent all together was for _dinner_ and late at night, or during the weekend when he wasn’t working. At first, Hyunjin avoided Minho. Something about his aura made him scared, and he never hid the fact that he _scared the living hell out of him_. “ _I won’t ever hurt you, Hyunjin_ ,” Minho always told him, yet he couldn’t help himself but shiver in fear every time the boy moved his arm too fast.

The _Jisung incident_ made Minho more passive than before. When he used to yell and argue about everything, he now sat quietly on a chair and kept his opinion to himself. It pained Hyunjin. Which is why he took it upon himself to help Minho recover and get back to his old self.

“ _Do you want to go hunt with me?_ ” Hyunjin asked, one day. Minho was staring at the TV in front of him.

“ _Tired_ ,” the older mumbled.

“ _Come on, we make a great team together. I’ll find something as far as I can and you’ll use your super force to kill it, what do you think?_ ” the young vampire tried to sound eager about the hunt, even if he despised it.

“ _Why? I don’t want to._ ”

“ _Don’t you want to do things we used to?_ ”

“ _Why would you want the old me back? You were scared of him_ ,” Minho scoffed, turning the TV off to turn his head towards Hyunjin. The latter sighed, sitting next to him on the couch.

“ _I miss the old Minho._ ”

These few words were enough to melt Minho’s soul. He hugged the younger boy tenderly, caressing his now longer hair, whispering against his ear; “ _I’m sorry Hyunjin, but I don’t think he’s coming back any time soon_.”

Minho’s old self never really came back, a new Minho simply emerged from it all. He argued back, threatened again, drank coffee in mass again, yet he still stayed quietly at home during the day, barely spoke unless he was spoken to. He was a new person. Hyunjin liked this Minho a whole lot.

The vampire was sitting on his bed reading his book, once again, when he heard someone knocking on his door. “ _Minho? Come in_ ,” he said in a loud enough voice for the other to hear him.

“ _How did you know it was me?_ ” the older vampire asked, entering the bedroom at the same time.

“ _You always knock two times, Chan knocks three times_ ,” the younger explained as if it was common knowledge.

“ _Mm, sure_ ,” Minho trailed his words a bit, sitting next to Hyunjin on the bed. “ _Can I ask you something?_ ” It was surprising whenever Minho wanted to talk, even more when he was the one curious about something. Hyunjin put his book aside, turning his entire body to face Minho, nodding with a smile. “ _What is so scary about me?_ ”

“ _What?_ ”

“ _You’re scared of me. You’ve been since we first met, but why?_ ”

“ _I—I don’t know? Your eyes?_ ” Hyunjin looked at him up and down, wondering what made him so scared. He didn’t even know himself, there was just something about Minho that made him scared, he never really tried to understand _what_ in particular. “ _Well, I’m not like—It’s not that kind of scared. I don’t think you will hurt me in any way. I just—I respect you? You have this—this kind of authoritarian vibe?_ ”

“ _Wait, you mean like—do you mean like my father?_ ” Minho’s voice broke a bit on the last word.

“ _A bit? It’s like I know I’m hierarchically underneath you?_ ” The youngest wondered if that was really it, but it was what made the most sense to him.

“ _Well, you are. And you also kind of—wait. My father turned you, right?_ ” Hyunjin stared at him, nodding slightly, wondering where he was going with that. “ _You know about the—the rules? All the blood lines and stuff?_ ” Hyunjin nodded once again, thinking about what Minho was trying to say. “ _We have the same father, Hyunjin. I’m technically your—oh my god! You’re my brother?_ ” Minho got up from the bed, staring at Hyunjin who had his mouth opened in a o shape.

“ _Is that—could it be that? Oh my god,_ ” he couldn’t believe it took them this long to figure it out. They laughed while staring at each other. Hyunjin got up from his bed, taking a few steps towards Minho before wrapping his arms around him, snuggling his head on his shoulder.

Learning that they were blood-related made it easier for them to grow closer, as cliché as it sounds. Maybe if they had figured it out way earlier, they’d been even closer by now. Hyunjin was just glad he finally had a sibling, even if it was that way. He always lived as an only child, envied people with siblings, wondered what it would be like to have someone else to call family. What he was sure of, now, though, is that Felix will never feel like _family_ to him.

Telling Chan that they were brother was scary, at least at first. They took him to the living-room, sat him on the couch and stood in front of him. It felt like a movie scene, where a child sat their parents to tell them their biggest secret. Minho and Hyunjin eyed each other, a giggle escaping Hyunjin. Chan was staring at them, curious. He observed the way they were encouraging each other to talk, and broke the silence first; “ _What are you two trying to tell me that requires me sitting here? Are you two dating or what?_ ” The two vampires burst in laughter, Hyunjin even falling on the floor. The older of the three stared at them, visibly confused about what was _so funny_ with what he had said. Minho was the first one to calm down; “ _Oh god no, Hyunjin’s my brother!_ _I’d never_.” There was nothing shocking about that news, at least to Chan. “ _I know you two are brother, you were turned by the same person. And I already thought we were all somehow brother even if I wasn’t blood-related to you, guys. Weren’t we?_ ” Hyunjin stopped laughing almost immediately, sitting on the floor, staring at the older vampire who sounded genuinely hurt that they didn’t consider him their true family. Quickly, he stood up and sat next to him, taking his hand in his; “ _Chan—Of course we—That’s not what we meant, you know it. We’re family_ ,” he smiled softly at him, caressing his hand with his thumb. Minho was still standing in front of them, an eyebrow raised with curiosity; “ _Hyunjin, why do you look at him like you’re in love?_ ”

Minho’s words echoed in his mind, even hours after he had said them. Hyunjin was lying on his bed, still thinking about what Minho had said. It sounded… ridiculous, in his head. He sure did love Chan, a whole lot actually. But he was not _in love_ with Chan. He liked Chan, was amazed by him, admired him… everything but love him in a romantic way. It even sounded wrong to him. Not that it’d be a repulsive thought, he just couldn’t get himself to imagine Chan _that_ way. Chan was attractive, he wouldn’t deny that for anything in the world. He just… wasn’t his type. But then, _what was his type?_

“ _Hyunjin, can I come in?_ ” his brother’s voice got heard through the door. Hyunjin hummed. Minho slowly entered his bedroom, staring right at him. “ _Is everything ok?_ ” The younger nodded. “ _You looked lost in thoughts since this morning, did I say something wrong? Did something happen? Chan talked to you about something?_ ” He shook his head no. Minho walked towards his bed, sitting at the edge of it, Hyunjin got up a little to sit against the wall.

Silence fell upon them. Hyunjin was still lost in his thoughts, Minho was waiting to find something to say, or simply how to say it. Finally, the youngest spoke up.

“ _You were just joking, about me and Chan, right?_ ”

“ _Is that what’s been troubling you all day?_ ” The other hummed in approval, Minho cooed. “ _You should’ve told me, Hyunjin. Of course, I was joking._ ” He smiled at him, putting his hands on his in reassurance.

“ _Thank you_ ,” the boy murmured.

“ _Can I ask you something?_ ” Hyunjin looked up, staring at him, waiting for the question. “ _Why did it trouble you this much? Is it because it’s Chan? Because it’s a man? Or?_ ” As soon as he had asked his question, Hyunjin’s face fell. He looked in distress, as if it was the hardest question he had been asked in his entire life. Minho was quick to hold his hands a bit tighter, leaning towards him; “ _You don’t have to answer, I was just curious. It’s completely fine if you don’t—_ ”

“ _I just don’t know. All of it?_ ” His voice was small, his eyes were quivering and his hands shaking a bit. “ _I for sure felt uncomfortable thinking of Chan that way. I look up to him, he’s my role model. But the fact that he’s a man… I don’t think changing his gender would change that? I just—It’s just the idea of—of being romantically attracted? It makes no sense, I’m sorry I—_ ” Minho cut him short, releasing his hands to engulf him into a tight hug, arms wrapped around the younger’s shoulders.

“ _If this is what makes sense to you, then it makes perfect sense. You don’t have to be attracted to anyone or anything, it’s completely fine. I’m sorry I joked about that, I won’t do it again_ ,” his voice was soft, but reassuring. Hyunjin let his head rest against the other’s shoulder, closing his eyes, whispering a small _thank you_ he wasn’t even sure had actually passed the barrier of his lips. Minho hugged him a bit tighter, caressing his back as reassuringly as he could.

When Hyunjin found Felix passed out on the path leading to their house, he was reeking like a vampire. It wasn’t a pleasant smell, yet it smelled familiar. It was like home but coming from far _far away_. He kneeled in front of him, staring at his face. He had freckles all over his skin, some on his neck, probably all over his body. His nose was like a small button, he wanted to touch it. Looking at his dyed hair, Hyunjin instinctively took a strand of his own, wondering what he’d look like if he dyed it too. Then, he stared at his clothes. He had a pair of tight black sweatpants, a large white t-shirt and bare feet. His t-shirt was a bit torn apart because of the trees’ branches, his feet were dirty from the forest’s grass. He seemed starving. Staring at him for a long time, he wondered if he should bring him home or call Minho over, maybe wait for Chan to be home? It was only when the boy in front of him moved a bit that he decided to take him on his back and bring him back home, putting him on their couch. Minho stared at him, then at the boy, then right back at him and arched an eyebrow; “ _What’s that?_ ”

Chan had sounded very clear about _keeping the boy home_ , which resulted on some tension between the two older boys. He took him to his own bedroom after feeding him a blood bag—his own, which was surprising as no one was allowed to touch it—and then sat the two others on the couch and told then _everything he knew about the boy_. It wasn’t the total truth and both brothers knew it. It was the bare minimum; he worked at a convenience store Chan went often, making him an acquaintance of him and not a stranger, which meant that he could stay until he was recovered. That was the deal Minho and Chan agreed on.

It is not what happened. Felix recovered from his forced starvation, learned that he was a vampire, even what his ability was. Neither Minho nor Hyunjin was particularly pleased with his stay, both held onto the idea of him leaving once he was feeling better. However, that day had long been passed. Felix was working, living _life_ , he was in perfect shape and felt as alive as a vampire could be. Chan still made him stay. Minho was pissed. He couldn’t stand Felix. There was some unspoken rivalry between the two, even Hyunjin felt it.

“ _What’s so good about him anyway?_ ” Minho asked, clearly angry. He was walking back and forth in Hyunjin’s bedroom, the latter sitting on his bed with his book on his lap.

“ _Maybe there’s something going on between them?_ ” the younger suggested in a low voice. Minho scoffed.

“ _Sure, because Chan is the most romantic person ever, he knows what love is_ ,” his sarcastic tone made Hyunjin uneasy. “ _I’m sure there’s something fishy about the whole thing, and I will discover what it is_.”

Minho then sat back next to Hyunjin, just like he previously was, going back to their previous conversation as if nothing had happened.

It wasn’t that Hyunjin disliked Felix, no. The now youngest had done _nothing_ wrong to upset him or be hated. He was really nice, his smile was bright enough to brighten your soul, he had this pure aura and innocent look in his eyes. Hyunjin was simply biased by Minho’s point of view. Strangers were to be feared and suspected.

Nonetheless, Felix kept on trying to talk with Hyunjin. Whenever they stayed at home just the two of them, he’d sat next to him or try to go to his bedroom. At first, Hyunjin refused categorically to be near him, refusing him access to his bedroom and keeping at least one seat between them. However, as time went by, he let him sit next to him on the couch, answered his question more thoughtfully, slowly granting him access to his bedroom.

“ _Do you wanna do something?_ ” Felix’s low voice echoed through the house. Hyunjin closed the fridge’s door to walk towards the living-room where the other boy was.

“ _Do you have anything in mind?_ ”

“ _Well, I need to re-do my roots. Wanna help?_ ” He turned towards Hyunjin, who looked at him as if he was an alien. Felix laughed; “ _Do you know what that means?_ ” The other shook his head. Felix giggled again, getting up from the couch to walk towards Hyunjin. He took his hand in his, pulling him to Chan’s bedroom where he took a box of bleach and another one of hair dye. “ _I need to bleach my roots_ ,” he pointed his roots with his index finger then the bleach. “ _So that I can dye it blond like the rest of my hair_.” He pointed at the hair dye, then at his blond hair. Hyunjin had big round eyes, a little sparkly as he stared at the boy’s hair. “ _Is everything ok?_ ”

“ _I want to try_ ,” the boy mumbled, lost in thought. Since he had first seen Felix, he couldn’t stop wondering what he’d look like with blond hair, or any other colour. Since a few years ago, he had stopped cutting his hair short. They were now around shoulder-length. He loved the way they looked, how he could put then in a small bun or ponytail, even had Chan or Minho braid it. He loved putting shampoo in his hair and feeling his fingers combing his hair. He loved himself for the first time in a long time. Still, the thought of changing one of the only remaining human part of him sounded exciting.

“ _Want me to dye your hair?_ ” Felix’s voice was bright. Without even thinking much, Hyunjin found himself nodding vividly. Next thing he knows, he’s sat on the floor of the bathroom, a towel around his shoulders, bleach in his hair, wrapped in foil. Felix washed his hair half an hour later, then he put dye on it, put it in foil again and once again washed his hair half an hour later. When Hyunjin was able to look at his reflection again, he had blond hair. _Just like Felix_. It was like looking at someone else. Felix left him in the bathroom, observing himself and touching his hair. He got tears in his eyes, happiness overflowing from his body. _I love it_. _I love it so much_ , he kept on whispering to himself.

Both Minho and Chan stopped on their track when they saw Hyunjin for the first time. They then drown him in compliments, from how good he looked to how glad they were that he was happy. That night, Hyunjin thanked Felix for hours. They grew closer.

When Minho had told Hyunjin he wanted to find out the truth, he had thought he’d investigate in secret, he’d try to find secrets and clues about what the two boys were doing. He hadn’t expected him to just snap in anger and yell at Chan.

He had been asleep for a few hours, the background noises coming from the TV lulling him to sleep without him even knowing he was tired. Minho was gone hunting, Chan was with Felix in the living-room, it was somehow normal for him to fall asleep on his bed. Still, he woke up hearing loud noises. Grumpy, he got out of his bedroom, entering the living-room first, thinking the loud noises was coming from the TV. Felix was still sitting there, the movie on a paused screen.

“ _Is everything ok?_ ” he asked in his raspy voice. Felix turned his face towards him, moving it a bit in the kitchen’s direction. Hyunjin turned around, looking at Minho’s figure next to the door. He looked angry. “ _Are they arguing?_ ” When Felix nodded, Hyunjin felt his whole world falling apart.

They hadn’t fought in years, they finally had grown closer, Minho had finally matured enough to stop snapping at everything not going his way. Yet, they were arguing right there at that instant. His head started to spin as tears beamed in his eyes. Felix quickly got up from the couch, taking both of his forearms in his hands; “ _Is everything ok? Do you need to sit down?_ ” his voice had never been this soft and worried. It soothed his pain, a bit.

“ _Why? What happened?_ ” His voice slightly cracked, he ignored it. “ _Why are they arguing?_ ”

“ _I don’t know? I think it’s my fault, from what I heard_.”

Hyunjin felt sorry for him. Not because he was witnessing the two older boys in an argument, but because he was the cause of it. He knew what it felt like, and his soul tightened a bit more at that thought. Carefully, he took Felix’s hand in his; “ _Let’s calm them down_.” Felix nodded and they walked towards the kitchen, stopping right at the door as they overheard the conversation.

“ _Wait, what? You… You love him?_ ” Minho’s voice was way too stern for the question, still, it cracked a bit.

“ _… Yes, I do._ ” Chan had teary eyes and couldn’t look at Minho in the eyes. Yet, he looked up when he heard Felix’s voice.

“ _You love me?_ ” Hyunjin was next to Felix, holding his shaky hands. The two boys were staring at each other. Hyunjin could feel Minho’s eyes on him, still he kept his on Chan.

It was way more than a surprise, than Chan was in love with Felix. Not because Felix was unlovable, but because Chan looked like the type that didn’t know what love is.

Felix had voiced out his liking on Chan a few times to Hyunjin, mostly when they were having some _hair-dying-time_ or while watching a movie together. Honest, he had always told him that Chan would only see him as a _little brother_. Felix had been sad at this revelation, yet he accepted it; “ _I can’t force him to like me back. I like him enough to accept that_.” His answer had sounded so mature to Hyunjin, he never really tried to know if Chan could like him back or not. Yet, now, he had to look at him be all lovey-dovey in their house, even outside of it.

Chan looked weird, since he had started to date Felix. Was it because he discovered what love was? Or maybe Felix was overwhelming? The boy was a bit hyper at times, and even for Hyunjin it was hard to keep up sometimes.

One day, as Chan was sitting on the chair on their front terrace for the nth time that week, Hyunjin sat on the chair next to him. He had closed the door, giving them all the privacy a forest could provide.

“ _Is everything ok?_ ”

“ _Everything is perfect, why the question?_ ” Chan looked in the distance, not even sparing a glance at Hyunjin.

“ _You don’t look like yourself, since_ —” he stopped in his track, looking in the same direction as Chan, probably a bit further than him. “ _Since you and Felix officialised things. Are you happy?_ ”

There was a bit of a silence. Birds chirped in the trees nearby, a squirrel munched on an acorn right next to the house, wind went through the leaves on the trees. Still, the only thing Hyunjin could hear, was Chan’s sigh.

“ _I’ve never dated anyone, is everything supposed to feel like that?_ ” He sounded smaller than ever.

“ _Like what, Chan?_ ”

“ _Like I could lose him if I say the wrong thing? Like there’s something wrong going on when everything is actually completely fine?_ ” He finally turned his heads towards him, he looked so vulnerable.

“ _I’ve never been in a relationship either, I don’t think I’ll ever be. But from what I’ve heard, the more you care about someone the scarier it feels to lose them. It’s normal to be scared, I mean—I love you a lot, and I’m scared I’ll lose you one day. It’s—It’s the same, except that it’s not—it’s platonic._ ” He offered a small smile. Chan leaned from his chair to hug him tightly.

“ _I won’t ever leave you, Hyunjin. I promise you; I won’t ever leave you_.”

Looking at Chan and Felix dating was both entertaining and painful to watch. Felix was the happiest he had ever been—at least from what Hyunjin knew of him. It felt heart-warming to see him like that. As of Chan, he either looked happier than ever, or in complete tug-of-war within himself. Hyunjin always kept an eye on them, feeling like protecting the both of them was his role.

He had always been the one taken care of; shouldn’t he be the one taking care of someone now? Felix was younger than him, wasn’t it part of his role, to look after him? It then only came naturally to look after Chan in the process.

Minho was fast asleep in his bed. Hyunjin was reading his book. Felix and Chan were sharing their bed. It was a normal night. However, Hyunjin was still aware of every noise coming into his ears. The owl hooting deep in the forest, the deer eating somewhere close by, Minho snoring slightly. And in the midst of that, he could hear muffled moans and heavy breaths coming from Chan’s room. His cheeks grew bright red. Embarrassed, he tried to focus more on his book than on the noises. It was hard not to listen to it, simply wondering when it’d be over. And as soon as silence came, he heard their voices again. He didn’t mean to hear their conversation, yet it intrigued him. Why did Felix sound…like that?

He got up from his bed, leaving his bedroom to walk all the way to Chan’s. He stopped in front of the door, hearing right enough, just enough. He heard Chan saying how he turned him. He heard it all. “ _I’m like—I’m like your father, in some way._ ” This sentence ringed inside of Hyunjin’s head as he walked back to his bedroom, falling on top of his bed and waiting to fall asleep, wishing it was all a dream.

Waking up, Hyunjin’s mind kept on replaying what he had heard the night before. “ _I’m like your father_.” Chan’s voice was clear in his head. There was no doubt it was him. “ _father_ ” The word kept on repeating in his head. Chan was Felix’s father. Chan was dating Felix. Felix was in love with his father. It messed with Hyunjin’s mind.

Lost, panicked, he walked to Minho’s bedroom and slid under his duvet, directly wrapping his arms around his waist without even asking if he could come in. Minho woke up feeling the weight against him. “ _Hyunjin?_ ” No answer. A sob. “ _Hyunjin, is that you?_ ”

He got up a bit, pulling the duvet down to uncover Hyunjin’s body. He caressed his hair softly. “ _Is everything ok?_ ”

“ _I heard so—I heard something I shouldn’t have_ ,” was all Hyunjin said. Minho chuckled.

“ _If you’re talking about them having sex last night, I heard it too. It’s ok, you probably heard me too before_ ,” he hugged him tighter as he talked then he let him go, lying down again, probably to go back to sleep. Hyunjin got a bit closer to him.

“ _I heard Chan t—Chan telling him he—_ ” another sob. “ _He’s his father_.” Minho stopped moving. Hyunjin sobbed a bit louder. Time seemed to stop for the both of them.

“ _We need to talk_ ,” Minho entered Chan’s room without even knocking. He wasn’t even dressed and had a pair of sweatpants on, topless. Chan and Felix were still in bed, their clothes all over the floor. Hyunjin was behind Minho, shaking a bit.

“ _Talk about what?_ ” The oldest rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, getting himself up, his weight on his free hand.

“ _About your incestuous relationship_ ,” Minho growled back, startling the couple.

“ _I can explain!_ ”


	11. Hierarchy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one could have prepared Chan for this. For this confrontation and all the changes it'll have on his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a bit long to write this chapter, first because I wasn't home, second because I wasn't in the right mindset. I did write during this time, but it wasn't the mood I wanted for this work (if you read what I posted during this time, you know). Anyway! I really hope this is enjoyable. There's still a lot planned for this story, don't worry!

It was the first time for Chan to cry this much. His hands were circling Felix’s tiny waist, head hidden against his neck. Felix’s fingers were caressing his hair with so much fondness that it made him cry even more. And then… he barely remembers. He cried so much he fell asleep, naked body pressed against his boyfriend’s. For once, he fell asleep with no trouble. It just… didn’t last.

It had barely been hours since he had fallen asleep that he heard the door open in a loud thud. And then Minho’s voice. His accusing tone. Chan got up with his weight resting on his hand, staring at him as he rubbed his eyes. His words made him sick.

“ _I’m waiting. Explain yourself_ ,” Minho was standing in front of him, voice still low. He was pissed.

“ _I love him_.” Chan’s sobs had stopped long ago. He had regained composure. He was still the oldest, the _leader_. He wasn’t afraid of Minho.

“ _This explain nothing._ ” He took a step closer. “ _You never told anyone about turning someone. You never told anyone about needing to have children. You never told anyone about dating your freaking son!_ ” At each _you_ , he pushed Chan with the tip of his index finger, eyes darker and darker with each sentence.

“ _I don’t owe you anything, Minho. You’re free to go anytime if you’re not happy with my way of doing things._ ” He stared into his dark orbs; jaw clenched. It was true that neither Minho nor Hyunjin were forced to stay, they could leave anytime, break all the rules they wanted. There was no bond linking them. But, the sole idea of seeing them leave would be enough to break Chan’s soul permanently. Still, his anger quite forgets about his attachment to the boys.

“ _Oh, really? Ok then. Why didn’t you tell me he was your son when I asked you why you trusted him? You could’ve told me the truth instead of saying your bullshit! And using Ji—using him? That was low, so low, even for you Chan. You had thousands of opportunities to tell us._ ” Minho had gotten a lot closer now, face only centimetres apart, their breath mixing together.

“ _I never lied. I love him. You just don’t want to accept that truth. And why so? Huh, why Minho?_ ” He took a step closer; Minho took one step back.

“ _You know what?_ ” Minho’s back straightened. “ _You’re right. Nothing’s holding me here_.” He stared a few more seconds into Chan’s eyes, searching for something. Hurt written all over his face, he left the room, slamming shut the door of his bedroom.

Chan collapsed on the couch as soon as no one was there. He felt powerless. He felt sick. He felt… He couldn’t lose him! He knew that, even if no bond was linking them, Minho was a friend. Minho was family. And he couldn’t lose family!

A few steps away from the door, a bag on his shoulder, Minho looked back, one last time. He looked into the living-room; Chan was nowhere to be seen. _So, he really wants me gone_. He scoffed. Hyunjin was back in his bedroom, probably asleep, just like Felix in Chan’s bed. It made him sick. Another scoff left his lips as he turned the doorknob. Only to be met with Chan’s figure, staring right into his eyes, standing straight behind the front door. He jumped back, startled.

“ _What are you d—_ ”

“ _Minho, don’t leave._ ” Chan’s eyes were a bit puffy.

“ _How did you ev—_ ” he leaned in, looking around the house just to see the living-room’s window wide opened. “ _What do you want?_ _You told me to leave_.”

“ _No!_ ” His voice was higher than he thought. “ _I said you were free to, I never said I wanted you to_.” He bit his lips before looking down. “ _If you really want to leave, though, I won’t hold you back. I just want you happy, and I’m sorry if I didn’t give you the happiness you deserve_.” He took a deep breath, not daring looking at his friend in the eyes. “ _You mean the world to me, Minho. I spent centuries by your side, and I wish to never forget them. You made me discover so many things, I’m beyond grateful._ ” A stray tear fell on the floor. “ _You’re my only family. Well, non-biological family. Just like Hyunjin. You’re everything to me_ ,” finally, he dared looking up. Minho’s bag was on the floor, his eyes were soft again.

“ _Why don’t you trust me? Why don’t you trust us?_ ” He pointed his arm towards Hyunjin’s bedroom. “ _You never tell us anything, are we supposed to guess what’s going on in your mind?_ ” He scoffed, once again, lips pressed tight against each other. “ _Chan, let me be honest with you_.” The older hummed, his eyes not leaving him even for a second. “ _I love you; I really do. You’re everything to me, my best friend, my brother. I’d give you the world if you ever needed it. I’d follow you anywhere, and I know Hyunjin feels the same. But,_ ” the simple word made Chan whimper. “ _All we ask you, is to trust us_. _The same way we trust you_.” Seeing Minho cry was painful, so painful to watch. Chan couldn’t hold himself any longer, plunging right onto the boy’s chest to engulf him in a tight hug. Both of them crying like babies.

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” he held him a bit tighter. “ _I’m so sorry, I promise. I promise you, both of you, all of you. I’ll try. I promise I’ll try to talk more, share more_.” He felt Minho’s arms around his back. It was reassuring.

Nothing could have prepared them for the following day—or hours, if we consider it. The three younger vampires were sitting on the couch, Chan was on the armchair. Everything felt serious, silence was heavy upon them. No one dared to talk, but everyone knew what this was about.

“ _I didn’t mean to eavesdrop_ ,” Hyunjin finally broke the silence, voice so low it was almost a whisper. He stared at the floor, feeling Chan’s eyes on him.

“ _It’s ok Hyunjin, you didn’t do anything wrong_.” He leaned forward just enough to stretch his arm and put his hand on the boy’s knee. “ _I should’ve told you_.” Chan let his eyes wander to the three boys in front of him. “ _All of you_.”

Felix felt small, smaller than he even was. He knew he was part of the problem, unbeknownst to himself, but still.

“ _None of this was supposed to happen_ ,” Chan had this serious tone in his voice. This serious and grave look in his eyes. “ _I had made the choice not to have a legacy. It was already enough with the two of you_ ,” his eyes stopped on Minho, then Hyunjin. Once they settled on Felix, they got softer. “ _But knowing you, having you in my life, I don’t regret it_.” He felt his boyfriend’s chest untighten; he was visibly reassured. “ _Even if I hadn’t turn you, I think I—I’d probably still have approached you one day._ ” His eyes were completely softer now, as he was looking at his small face, each one of his freckles, his tender eyes and his plump lips. Hearing Minho clearing his throat, he bit his bottom lip before adverting his eyes. “ _So, yes. I did turn you. And according to the old ass rules, I’m your father. But_ ,” this is when everyone’s attention went back to him. “ _It’s 2020. We lived centuries and tons of changes. Here’s mine. We’re all family, here. Brothers. No hierarchy. I don’t care what the hidden link between us say. I’m no one’s father. Meaning, I can date who I want_.”

“ _Chan_ ,” Minho’s voice was high, as if he was trying not to laugh. “ _You making your own rules makes you above us, you know that?_ ” His lips quivered a bit, he was holding back an amused smile. “ _You said no hierarchy, which means we can all make one rule, right?_ ”

Taken aback, as he for sure hadn’t thought this far—also because he was used to be the one in charge—he looked around the room before humming in approval.

“ _I decide that_ ,” Minho feigned being deep in thoughts. “ _I, Lee Minho, can have as much coffee as I want without you, Bang Chan, telling me how many cups is too many cups_.” He had a proud smile on his face as Chan could do nothing but sigh and nods.

“ _Can I do one too?_ ” Hyunjin sounded unsure, small, frightened even.

“ _Of course. Felix can have one too_ ,” Minho’s smile was nothing but reassuring as he held a hand to Felix’s knee.

“ _I—I decide that, I, Hwang Hyunjin, can—_ ” he stopped talking to look at Chan, as if he was asking for permission. “ _I decide that I can go outside in the forest alone_.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, both Minho and Chan were standing up, a firm _no_ escaping them. Hyunjin retreated in his own shoulders. The two olders eyed each other, lips trapped between their teeth.

“ _I thought… I thought no hierarchy?_ ” Felix finally spoke up, arms around Hyunjin who was starting to shiver.

“ _Ok,_ ” Chan finally said, sitting back on his armchair. “ _Ok, fine. But tell us when you go out_.” Hyunjin nodded firmly, a small smile on his lips. “ _And you, Felix?_ ”

“ _I decide that I can go to work on my own and come back on my own, spend time with my friends without you following me_.” He was staring right into Chan’s eyes, probably even to his soul. It was definitely a way to test his own desire for authority. Felix was defying his authority.

Chan’s jaw clenched as his entire soul wanted him to refuse that rule. His overprotective side, paternal side, was shaking inside of him. His eyes quivered as he stared at his boyfriend, lips tightly shut as he nodded in approval. He wanted to rip himself apart for approving that. Felix’s wide small and proud yelp soothed his soul a tiny bit.

Everything went back to normal, as normal as it could be considered. Minho was watching TV in the living-room, a cup of coffee in hand. It had stains from his previous coffee, he couldn’t care less. Hyunjin was in his room, probably taking a nap or reading his book for the thousandth time. And Felix… Felix had his hands wrapped around Chan’s waist; head pressed against his back. It was oddly domestic. Chan didn’t dislike it. It was soothing in a way, calming. Feeling the boy’s hands resting on his stomach as his peachy smell engulfed him in a safe bubble. He put the plate back in the sink, closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply.

“ _Everything ok, love?_ ” Felix had his eyes closed, head still against his back. He didn’t move, didn’t talk loudly. Simply whispering against his T-shirt.

“ _Just taking everything in_ ,” Chan was weirdly honest. “ _The new rules—well not rules, but… the lack of them? And you_ ,” he put the gloves back in the sink before turning around, Felix’s head sliding from his back to his chest. They both giggled. Chan slid his fingers in Felix’s hair, looking at him with fondness. “ _I love you_.”

It was the sweetest kiss they exchanged, and even if a part of Chan was still screaming about how wrong and unfilthy it was, he ignored it and reminded himself there was _no father_ , _no son_. He simply closed his eyes as he circled his boyfriend’s waist, hands pressed against the small of his back. Felix put a hand on his cheek, kissing his lips as if he was about to break. It made Chan smile. Being cared for, he felt precious.

“ _Do that somewhere else, please!_ ” Minho’s voice rose from the living-room. It made the two lovers chuckle in their kiss, lips parted in a smile.

It was all too domestic, it felt nice.

It was easier to accept than he had thought. Chan was so afraid he wouldn’t be able to lose his _leader_ position, but it was almost too easy. It wasn’t like all of his sense weren’t on alert whenever Hyunjin went in the forest alone. Nor that he wasn’t constantly texting Felix when he was hanging out with his _human friends_. Even less that he wasn't keeping count of how many cups of coffee Minho had drink in a day. It was his nature. He couldn’t help himself but stay alert and ready to butt in. He simply wanted to protect them, and the best for them. He’d give his life for them, if he ever needed to.

It almost happened. He almost needed to butt in.

Hyunjin left a note on the kitchen table. Minho was asleep, both Chan and Felix were at work.

‘ **2:15PM**

**_I’m going in the forest._ **

**Hyunjin** ’

Minho was the one to ask him to put the time, in his notes. So that they knew how long he had been gone. Hyunjin didn’t argue and complied to this _rule_.

When Chan went home, it was around 6PM. He saw the note on the table and called for Hyunjin’s name. No answer. He was still outside. He hadn’t meant to, but the anxiety that rose inside of him had been so violent that his fangs were out, his nails were digging into his thigh and before he could even process it, he was running at full speed in the forest. His ears were on alert, searching for any sign of Hyunjin. His smell, his breathing, his voice… anything that could help Chan spot him. There was nothing, it was like he had vanished. Until he saw him.

Chan’s legs stopped moving, his breathing evened out, he didn’t make any move towards the boy in front of him. He could only see his back, as Hyunjin was crouching down, the tip of his fingers caressing the head of a bunny. There was a small pond in front of them, clear blue water reflecting the sky. The trees were in circle around the pond, the grass was light green, almost magical. There were birds chirping, it was otherworldly. Chan’s soul felt at peace as he watched Hyunjin. He could hear his breathing, it was even, calm, he wasn’t in danger.

Still, Chan hid behind a tree and waited for Hyunjin to go home, following him in secret to make sure nothing happened. He didn’t butt in, but oh how close he was to. Never in his life had he been so scared for that boy; he was so sure he could have died from the fear he had felt that day.

It had been a month since they let go of the hierarchy. Everyone played the game and respected the _rules_. Even Chan. Even he followed the rules, or more precisely, the promise he had made with Minho. He talked. He talked with them. He was honest, with all of them. Sometimes, he’d keep things for himself, but it never really lasted long enough as a simple look from Felix made him spill everything. He was weak, oh so weak for this boy.

It was an ordinary night, Felix was lying beside him, head on his shoulder, arm around his waist and leg on top of his. He was sound asleep, even snoring a little bit. Chan, well, was wide awake. Something felt wrong. He tried to calm himself by making circles with his finger on Felix’s arm, eyes glued to his ceiling. Still, he couldn’t keep his breathing even. He didn’t even realize he had gripped Felix’s arm until the boy yelped in pain, eyes now wide opened. “ _Is everything ok?_ ”

This. He heard this question almost every day. He was fed up of this question. He wanted to tear apart this question and never hear it again. No. No he was not ok. How could he, when he had lost his role of leader, his son in some kind of way, his sanity. And there was this constant worry inside of him, screaming for danger, he didn’t even know why!

“ _Chan, do you hear me?_ ” Felix was hovering over him, worry all over his face. Chan forced a smile, caressing the boy’s cheek with the tip of his fingers.

“ _Yeah, I just… I can’t sleep._ ”

Felix cooed a bit, leaning down to seal their lips together. Chan melted. He melted completely, in an instant. His arm circled the boy’s shoulders, pulling him against his chest to kiss him. Again, and again. Lips moving against his boyfriend’s, each move calming his nerves. Felix giggled, both hands flat on his chest as he pushed himself off of him. “ _Feeling better?_ ” Chan couldn’t do anything else but nod, a smile on his lips. He really was feeling better.

It seemed enough, as his boyfriend hummed and went back to his side, closing his eyes again and falling asleep in seconds. Chan was left alone again, alone with his constant worry that still lulled him to sleep. Until…

He heard ruffling noises from outside. Sitting upright in his bed, suddenly awake, Chan looked left, then right, all over his room. Felix was sound asleep. The noises got closer. He got up; Felix stirred in his sleep. Chan put a reassuring hand in his hair, scratching his scalp with the tip of his fingernails. The boy turned on his stomach and went back to sleep. The older vampire sighed in relief, still on alert as the noises kept on coming closer. He got out of his bedroom, walking past Minho’s door, he stopped. No noise from inside, good. He was still asleep. He then walked in front of Hyunjin’s and waited a tad bit longer. It was never easy to know if Hyunjin was asleep or not, because he never made any noise. He decided to open the door, just enough to see inside. Hyunjin was lying down on his bed, face flushed against his pillow. It made Chan smile, but not for long as he heard a branch crack. Someone was here.

Nails longer and fangs out, Chan left the house. He closed the door and looked around the forest. That’s when he saw them. Quickly, making the less noise he could as he ran through the trees, he jumped on them. He heard a faint gasp as he pushed them on the floor, a knee right on their throat. “ _What do you want?_ ” He growled, face closer to the other on the floor. It was dark outside; Chan’s eyes were glowing. The other’s too. Realising he was facing one of his own, Chan’s defensive behaviour flattened a bit. Just enough for the other to push his knee out of his throat and make him roll a few meters away. Chan’s alert came back. He got up, the stranger in front of him, ready to fight.

He was the first one to attack. Chan ran right onto him, nails digging in his stomach as he pushed him with all his strength against a tree. He heard his spine crack against the wood. It made him smile. Not for long, as he was soon bitten in the shoulder, a cry escaping his mouth. He kept on digging his nails in the other’s flesh, drinking his cries with delight.

Chan finally managed to get the upper hand, tackling him back on the floor, a part of the tree falling right on top of his chest. The stranger straightened his arm, trying to tackle Chan on the floor with him. It made him laugh as he crashed his foot right on top of his hand, delighted as he heard his bones crack. “ _I said, what do you want?_ ”

Claps. Congratulating claps. Coming from behind him. And a laugh. _This_ laugh. His back stiffened, yet he stayed with his foot on top of the vampire’s hand, staring at him. He was laughing too, even if he was on the floor, trapped. The situation seemed funny to him.

“ _I’m really impressed, Christopher_ ,” he heard from behind him. Cold sweat ran down his spine, his hands started to shake. His throat tightened just enough to show his anxiousness. “ _I’ve kept a close eye on you, Christopher_.”

“ _What are you doing here?_ ” He couldn’t look at him. He just, he couldn’t.

“ _I’ve always been there. You left me, Christopher. It’s not really nice of you_ ,” he heard him laugh. “ _But I’m proud_.”

“ _You betrayed me_ ,” his teeth were gritting against each other. His jaw was tight.

“ _Betrayed? No! I put you on a test, all of you. You’re one of the few who passed, by the way_.” He laughed. He laughed again and it made his anger rise. He stomped his foot on the other’s hand, making him cry in pain. “ _Hey, careful with my children_.” He put his hand on his shoulder. “ _You have a lovely family._ ”

“ _Leave them alone. What do you want?_ ” Finally, he turned his head. He saw him. He wasn’t even sure any of this was real. He stared at the man in front of him, fear and anger overpowering him. “ _You’re not supposed to be here. It’s my territory._ ”

“ _Oh, sweet Christopher. You forgot a detail_ ,” his long nail went under his chin, lifting his head just enough to stare into his eyes. “ _I’m your leader_.”

“ _You stopped having power over me as soon as you betrayed me_ ,” he spat. Chris moved his head to free him from his nail, eyes glowing a bit more as the anger got bigger inside of him. “ _I’m my own leader_.” He removed his foot from the other’s hand, turning completely to face his former leader, the one who betrayed him and got him to leave on a boat. The one he saw come back from the dead centuries ago. “ _Why did you come back? Why now?_ ” He was ready to fight him. And kill him for good.

“ _Hey, easy tiger_.” He felt hands on his. “ _I just came to talk_.” A laugh. Again, a laugh. He was oh so ready to punch him in the face if he laughed again.

He was still in front of him. Sitting in front of him. A cup of tea in his hand. Chris had furrowed eyebrows, on alert and wishing, pleading even, for his three friends to stay asleep. The man was sitting on their couch, too preoccupied by his cup of tea and own happiness to feel threaten by Chris’ fangs and nails, his erratic breathing and glowing eyes.

“ _Calm down, young boy,_ ” he laughed. “ _I’m just here to talk to you_.”


	12. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His former leader wanted to talk. He just wanted to talk. Yet, nothing could have prepared Chan for the talk that it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It took me a long time to write such a short chapter so, first of all: I'm sorry (as I always am it seems). Secondly, it may take longer for the chapters to get written as I'm going back to uni soon.  
> This chapter is a bit dialogue heavy, and somehow just a filler for what's going to happen next. Enjoy?

It was too good to be true. _Talking_. They did. They did talk. It just didn’t last long. Was it because of the subject? Was it because of the anger rising in Chris’ stomach? Or was it because Hyunjin woke up? They all woke up. Probably all of this was the reason why it wasn’t _just_ talking.

He was simply sipping on his tea, explaining how he needed Chris to get back with him, that they were still bond and he couldn’t just _leave like that_. He was talking about this as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t betrayed them, made a whole city hate them and chase them, as if he hadn’t been shot in the chest. Chris couldn’t forget the hate in his eyes when he yelled across town that he had killed his own sister. He just couldn’t forget.

He kept on saying no. That he won’t come back. But everything changed. Everything changed as soon as the offer changed. “ _Then, give me your children. If you won’t come back, give them to me_.” No. The answer was still no. But going back felt like a better idea. He pondered the thought. His friends’ safety, for his own misery? His self-destructive side was pleased by that. Suffering for his family’s happiness. He was about to accept. He was _so about to say yes_. When it hit him. They wouldn’t be happy. They wouldn’t be safe. They would just go around the world to rescue him, and it would be far more dangerous than anything his mind could imagine. So, his answer stayed no. For everything, it just stayed no. He grew annoyed, angry. He wanted this man to leave.

His anger only made Hyunjin’s ears tickle. He heard the noise. He heard the voice. He heard the breathing. He woke up. Instantly, he got up on his feet and listened closely. As quietly as he could, he woke Minho up, and then Felix. He had hesitated a few minutes if he should wake him up, but him being asleep would only be more dangerous for him. They stood at the doorframe, wondering who that old man was, who the two men next to him were. And then, they were seen.

“ _Oh, hello. So, you’re awake? I knew I heard sound_ ,” the old man said. In one turn, Chris was staring at them, eyes getting watery in an instant. He mouthed them to go back to their room. Minho shook his head sideways. They weren’t going to move.

“ _Who are you?_ ” Felix groaned, already on the defensive.

“ _I’m hurt that Christopher never talked about me_.” How could he still smile? “ _I’m his alpha. His leader. Don’t worry, children. I’m not going to hurt you, as long as you let me leave with my little beta._ ”

“ _This won’t happen_ ,” Minho spoke up, nails and fangs out. Chris stood up, back facing the old man.

“ _No!_ ” He had one hand up in front of him, staring pleadingly at them. “ _Please, please don’t_.”

“ _But Chan_ —” Hyunjin stopped talking as soon as Chan lifted his hand a bit higher. He hung his head low.

“ _You’re pleading them? How pathetic of an alpha you are_ ,” the man laughed. Chris turned around again, one hand behind him motioning for the three boys to go back to their room. They didn’t move an inch, he knew that.

“ _I’m not a tyrant like you_.”

“ _You were pretty obedient, Christopher. Look what freedom did to you. You should come back to me_ ,” the man had a sly smile on his face. It made Chris’ anger boil in his stomach.

It all happened in one second. Minho was running towards Chris’ former leader. One of his wingmen jumped onto him and in a matter of seconds he was back to Hyunjin’s side, a man holding him. The other wingman was holding both Hyunjin and Felix, who were flailing around. “ _Leave them_ ,” Chris took a step towards the man. “ _Leave them alone, they have nothing to do with this_.” The only answer he got was a laugh, and the three boys screaming in pain as the two wingmen dug their nails in their wrists.

“Y _ou know, everything would be really easier if you just, gave up_ ,” his voice was threatening. Chris stood still in front of him, glaring at him, mouth slightly open to show his fangs. He was ready to fight. “ _Oh, Christopher._ ” He took a step towards him, nails longer in one move. “ _You really think you can outsmart me? That you can beat me?_ ” His tone got slightly louder, higher. “ _I’m your alpha!_ ”

“ _You’re no alpha_ ,” Chris growled.

“ _You took my children from me_ ,” they were centimetres apart, they could feel their breaths hitting each other’s face. “ _So, I’m about to take yours too_.”

“ _I didn’t take them from you. I freed them. You betrayed them, you betrayed us. You deserve nothing_ ,” Chris didn’t really have time to say anything else, a hand clutched at his throat. He got lifted up from the floor. Even if he had trouble breathing, he didn’t show any sign of distress, never would he give this man the satisfying feelings of having power over him. Nor would he worry his friends, quiet behind them.

“ _I’m the alpha, you’re nothing but my little beta, here. You think you can become an alpha? Have children of your own? You’re nothing Christopher. You’re nothing without me_ ,” he suddenly released his throat, Chris falling on his feet, legs failing him for a second.

“ _You turned your back on your own pack, you deserve nothing._ ” Hands on his knees, he still glared at him, growled even. It was almost as if his old human self was angry in his stead. He wanted him to suffer.

“ _You’re rambling, Christopher_.” He laughed. He laughed and it did nothing but stir Chris’ anger even more.

“ _My name is Chan!_ ” He punctuated every word, moving his arm up in one move, pushing the man in front of him with his palm flat against his stomach. He flew. One push and he flew across the room, back cracking against the couch. He still laughed, tidying his coat when he got back up on his feet.

“ _Oh, Christopher. You want to fight?_ ” He opened his mouth wide, fangs getting out. The man laughed, eyes glowing red with anger. “ _Then, let’s fight_.”

Everything happened fast, it always was fast with them. The three boys were still held hostages, unable to make a move—Minho probably could, he just didn’t want Chris to take his anger on him if he disobeyed. Chris was thrown by the window, back cracking against the terrace. His former leader on top of him, a grin on his face. Chris pushed him on the side, kicking him with his right leg.

Cuts here, bite there, they were both in pretty bad shape. Blood was spilling from the old man’s mouth; Chris’ ear was almost ripped apart. It however took one move for the old man to get the upper hand. A cry of pain came from inside of the house, Chris shot his head up to see who, of his friend, was hurt. His former leader took his careless mistake at his advantage and jumped on him, fangs digging deep in his shoulder. Chris cried in pain. He couldn’t hold it in. He couldn’t hold the pain any longer. He’d heal, for sure. But right now, the pain was excruciating. He passed out. His head fell on the floor, hitting the ground in a loud thud, his breathing slowing down. He couldn’t take it anymore.

“ _I’m disappointed_ ,” the voice was coming from everywhere. Chris turned around, looking around himself and beyond. It was all pitch black. No one was there. “ _I’m so disappointed in you, Christopher. I thought you were stronger than that_ ,” it echoed around him, but also in him.

“ _Who—Who’s there?_ ” Chris started to shake, in fear but also in submission. The voice grew louder in his head, it made him submit to it.

“ _You don’t even recognize your own father?_ ” He felt a hot breath against his ear, making him turn in one move. “ _Just get up, Christopher. Get up and show him who you really are_.”

It suddenly went all bright, Chris taking a deep inhale of air as he shot upright, sitting on the floor. His former leader stared at him, sly smile still on his face. “ _Oh, you’re back? Already?_ ” Chris looked around him, seeing the floor wet from their blood. He looked back at the old man, who was standing up, near the door, caught as he was about to get back inside. Chris got up on his feet, pain not even there, as if it had never been present at all.

“ _Where do you think you’re going?_ ” He moved his hand out of the doorhandle, crushing his wrist with all his might. He heard the bones cracking underneath the skin. It pleased him; it would please him even more if he heard a cry of pain.

“ _Will you leave with me, or will I take your children? It’s up to you, Christopher_.” He was unfazed by his broken wrist. He still had a smile on his face. He was just pure evil.

Chris took a glance inside. Hyunjin was crying silently, chest rising at each sob he was holding back. Felix reeked with fear—he could smell it from here—his whole body was shaking. And Minho was fighting internally not to break the two wingmen’s bones in one move. They met eyes. Minho stared at Chris, pleading him to let him fight. It was indeed tempting. He knew Minho could overpower the two men easily. He knew that fighting next to Minho would be enough to take down his former leader. But the pain from Hyunjin’s state, and the fear emanating from Felix’s body… it dissuaded him. A long sigh, he turned back to the other man, who was patiently waiting for an answer. “ _Ok,_ ” he couldn’t believe he was doing this. “ _I’ll go_.”

As soon as the old man laughed, the two wingmen released the three boys, the next second they were behind Chris, each one holding one of his hand. “ _You made the right choice, Christopher_.” They pushed him, making him walk far from the house. He dug his feet deep in the ground, refusing to move.

“ _Let me say goodbye!_ ” He yelled, to which the older man maniacally laughed. He got pulled over, a hand on his throat. He choked on his own saliva as he was dragged behind his former leader, forced to leave his family behind, not even able to explain the situation.

The three boys ran outside, just on time to see the three men disappearing with Chan between them. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. There was no trace of them. Nothing. They had just disappeared. They looked at each other, worry and befuddlement clear on their faces.


	13. Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is different now that Chan is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is once again very short but... :))))))))  
> (don't hate me please I've had a hard day :(((()

They were standing there, frozen in front of their door, staring into the forest, waiting for only one thing: for Bang Chan to appear. Minutes passed, no one appeared. He was gone. He left them. Reality finally hitting them, Hyunjin and Felix both fell on the floor, on their knees, cries echoing loudly between the trees. Minho was still standing, yet he wasn’t in a better shape. If he were human, he’d probably be heartbroken by now. He once again had tear strains on his cheeks, eyes lost in the horizon. He was empty inside. Void filling him as he accepted that Chan was gone.

It was like going back to square one, for all three of them. Hyunjin was left alone, with his thoughts and his book. He secluded himself in his bedroom, unable to face anyone. He felt responsible for what had happened, even if he had nothing to do with this, he kept on thinking that, maybe, maybe if he hadn’t woken up, went to the living room, maybe none of this would have happened. He wanted to die. He wanted to be taken instead of Chan, to be the one… he didn’t even know what they’d do to him. They didn’t know who this man was, what he wanted. Maybe they were torturing Chan, for all they know. Maybe he was already dead… The single thought of Chan hurt made Hyunjin throw up on his bedroom floor, tears spilling from his eyes like a waterfall.

Minho was no better than him. He couldn’t bear his family not being by his side. Chan was his friend, his best friend. He was like his brother. He was his family. He needed him by his side. He was the only thing keeping him from going nuts. He already felt the emptiness in his soul, the longing for the man he spent his life with. Losing Jisung had been harsh on him, but losing Chan felt ten times worse. He was so close to break in millions of pieces, to let go of anything keeping him from insanity. His only purpose in life was now to find Chan back. Even if it meant traveling the world. He will find him. He will, even die in the process if needed.

And then there was Felix. In the midst of all of this, was Felix. He tried to stay strong. Someone had to stay strong. It had to be him. He was Chan’s, he needed to be Chan. As much as he could, he _had_ to become Chan, be strong, help the two other boys. Hyunjin worried him, but so did Minho. One was becoming his sadness, the other was fulling his need of vengeance with his sadness. It wasn’t that Felix wasn’t sad. He was. He was beyond sad. He had lost the most important person in his life. Chan was his lover. He was… He was the only person he’d kill for. He needed Chan. And the only thing keeping Felix from giving up and drowning in his sadness, was the certainty that Chan was alive, waiting for them to rescue him. He could feel it in his bones. It probably was a foolish feeling, his mind tricking him so that he’ll stay alive—as alive as he could, actually—or maybe it was the bond between them, warm and bright, keeping them connected. Whatever it was, whatever it could even be, Felix didn’t want to know. He simply needed to believe in it and live up to it. It was like he could hear Chan calling him, calling for help. He wanted to believe in it. That Chan _was_ calling for help. That he was alive, and they’ll be able to find him. He needed to believe it, strongly enough, so that Minho and Hyunjin could believe in it too.

Easy wasn’t the appropriate term for this. It was all but easy. Felix swore Chan was a mastermind to keep doing this. Helping Minho reduce his coffee intakes while making sure Hyunjin wasn’t crying his soul out in his bed, Felix needed to be at two places at the same time, all the time.

“ _Please, Hyunjin. Just come eat something_ ,” he tugged on his arm, forcing him to sit on his bed.

“ _Don’t want to_ ,” the boy let himself fall back on his bed.

“ _Please, you’re going to starve_.”

“ _That’s the whole point. Felix please, leave me alone_ ,” he pleaded, eyes already filling with tears.

“ _I’ll be in the kitchen_.” Felix finally gave up, kissing the other’s forehead before leaving the room. He was about to heavily sigh and drop on the floor, needing a minute of rest, when he saw Minho, on the other side of the house, about to get another coffee. He ran towards him, taking the cup out of his hand. “ _It’s your twelfth coffee, just stop_.”

“ _You’re not my dad. You’re not Chan either. Just leave me_ ,” Minho spat, taking the cup back in his hand and filling it with coffee. Felix was still in front of him, the words hitting hard. He indeed was not his father, nor was he Chan. He could try all he wants, he will never be Chan. And more days passed, lighter the feeling he previously had was. It was as if Chan was disappearing. Tears filled his eyes, threatening to spill. He wasn’t Chan. And Chan was probably never coming back. Chan wasn’t there. He wasn’t there and probably never again. Felix was ready to leave the room, to go cry in his bed—Chan’s bed—when Minho held his wrist, tugging him into his chest and hugged him tightly. He hugged him so tight that Felix could barely breath at first. “ _I’m sorry_ ,” the older whispered against his hair. “ _I shouldn’t have said that. I’m so sorry Felix_.” And then, silence. Not complete silence, though. Felix’s soft sobs echoed against Minho’s chest. It was painful to hear. Still, he needed it. He needed to cry, to finally be hugged and cry his soul out. Two weeks since Chan had _left_ , it was his first time being hugged like that. The only time he had cried had been alone in his room, surrounded by Chan’s clothes, Chan’s scent, Chan’s everything. Everything reminded him of Chan, everything made him break inside. He wanted to stay strong so bad, for Minho, for Hyunjin, for Chan. But it was so hard. So, _so_ hard to stay strong. How was Chan doing this? How long had he been doing this? The more he thought of Chan, the harder Felix cried. Enough to make Hyunjin get out of bed, enter the kitchen and hug Felix’s back. The younger was now sandwiched between Minho and Hyunjin, he felt relieved. He felt less alone. He wasn’t alone, he never was. Now he knew. Now, he knew how Chan was doing. It was the love, it was the warmth, it was the certitude that he wasn’t doing this for nothing. “ _We’ll find him back, I promise you. We’ll get him back._ ” It was a promise. It wasn’t empty words, he just needed help. They needed help.

Everything was dark. For a few minutes, the world was pitch black. No sound, no noise at all. Worry started to fill his chest, his breathing becoming more and more panicked. “ _Is anyone there?_ ” he whispered, slightly scared that someone was indeed there, ready to kill him. “ _Hello?_ ” his voice failed him. It cracked a bit, the end of his word becoming a bit high-pitched. He was scared. He wanted to cry. He couldn’t. No. No _don’t cry_. _You can’t cry. You can’t give them this satisfaction, to see you crumble in fear._

Fighting the fright inside of him, he got up on his feet, only to realize he was chained. His eyes followed the chain up to the wall, a small hole inside of it where the chain was sealed. “ _What the heck_ ,” he breathed out, looking around him. It was still too dark for him to see anything. Even with his unnatural vision, he couldn’t decipher where he was. There was no scent. Nothing. It was just as if he was in the middle of nowhere.

“ _Oh, you’re awake, Christopher_.” It was a low voice, echoing in the entire room. Where was it coming from? He kept on looking around, until he saw eyes glowing in front of him. “ _You were quite a burden to bring here, you know_.” He couldn’t see the person talking but that one laugh was enough for him. It was enough to know who it was. He groaned, tugging on the chains. “ _Easy tiger,_ ” his former leader chuckled, now in front of him. A nail digging under his chin to lift his head and make eye contact with him. All fear disappeared from Chan’s eyes. It got replaced with anger.

“ _What do you want from me?_ ”

“ _I need you to calm down, then we’ll be able to talk_.” The nail dug a little bit deeper in his skin, stinging just a tiny bit. “ _But don’t worry, you’ll soon be really calm_.” Chan didn’t quite understand this sentence at the beginning, until he felt another sharp thing digging into his skin, right where the nail previously was. And then he felt it. He felt the warmth spreading under his skin. His head felt light, his body was jelly. “ _You can’t fight all the time, it’s ok Christopher. It’ll make you feel calm. Well, maybe you’ll pass out for a few hours, but once you wake up, you’ll be as harmful as a fish._ ” The man patted his cheek before leaving the room, leaving Chan falling flat on his stomach, back into the darkest room of his life.

Minho woke up with a start, feeling a heavy weight next to him. Breathing erratic and loud, he looked down, seeing a body wrapped up against his side, head flushed against his hip, body curved to follow his body. Their hair was hiding their face. He went to put it aside, hand slightly shaking. They stirred a bit in their sleep, grumbling just enough for the noise to echo against his skin. Minho froze. He didn’t need to see their face. He didn’t need to hear anything else. He knew. He knew and that scared him. “ _It can’t be_ ,” tears filled his eyes. “ _No, it can’t be_.” He closed his eyes, as tightly as he could, counting up to ten. He tried to control his breathing as much as he could, scared to open his eyes again. “ _You’re dreaming, Minho. You’re just dreaming_ ,” slowly, he opened his eyes again. They were still there, lying down against his side, arms circling his waist and lips pressed against his hip. He could feel his breath, hear his light snores. It wasn’t a dream. Shakily, he lied back down, gulping hardly his saliva. “ _You’re awake?_ ” He whispered, a hand sliding into their hair. They stirred a bit more against him, head now resting on their chest, soft humming coming from their mouth. “ _Jisung, you’re awake?_ ”


	14. Dark and Heavy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunjin take everything in hand, but maybe succeeding takes more than willpower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> H e l l o o o o o o. This isn't exactly long, but there's a lot to unpack here. I hope everything makes sense. Also, say hello to our new characters, be nice to them and I will too.
> 
> A/N: I edited some ... typos :D<

Minho was staring at the man lying next to him, heart stinging a tiny bit as he put his hand on his cheek, caressing it softly. The man didn’t answer, a soft but low hum escaping his lips as well as a light snore. He was asleep. Minho lied flat on his back, staring at his ceiling, trying to process what was happening. “ _Jisung?_ ” Still no answer. He sighed, closing his eyes and falling back asleep, an arm wrapped around the other’s waist, hand shaking lightly.

When Minho woke up, the first thing he did was to turn on his side and kiss the man’s head. He was met with thin air, emptiness that almost made him fall onto the mattress. “ _What—_ ” his breath hitched in his throat. “ _Jisung?_ ” Scared, he got up from his bed, opening his door wide, legs trembling and barely holding him up, he held himself with his hand on the wall, breathing with difficulty as he walked towards the noise in the kitchen. “ _Jisung? Jisung! Is that you?_ ” He saw Hyunjin’s back in the kitchen, his head started to spin as he turned around, looking at the living-room. “ _Jisung? Where are you?_ ” Talking louder every time he asked. Felix suddenly got out of his bedroom, stopping in front of him. “ _What’s wrong?_ ”

“ _Where—Where’s Jisung? I can’t find him_ ,” he didn’t even look at him, still looking for his boyfriend.

“ _Who’s Jisung?_ ” Felix took a step towards him.

“ _My boyfriend, where’s my boyfriend?_ ”

“ _Minho, you don’t have a—_ ” Felix got cut off as Hyunjin walked in.

“ _Minho calm down. Jisung’s dead, you know it. He’s been dead for almost 60 years now_ ,” his voice was soft, a reassuring hand resting on the older’s forearm.

“ _No, no he’s not. I saw him. He was—He was in my bed last night. He was there_ ,” Minho’s voice was shaky, his eyes were still looking for him.

“ _It was just a very vivid dream, Minho_.” Hyunjin slowly walked in front of him, wrapping his arms around his torso. Minho got teary, voice shaking a bit more at each word;

“ _He was there. He was there, I swear_.”

Felix was out in the city, working, and Hyunjin was out hunting for later. Minho was sitting on the couch, staring at the TV. There was a program on, a random game he barely understood the rules of. “ _What is the capital of France?_ ” an old man asked. Four people appeared on the screen, two of them hitting a big red button that emitted a low buzzing sound. One of them was one millisecond faster and got the full screen on them; “ _It’s London!_ ” they said excitedly. It made Minho grunt at the same time a low buzz got heard, the screen now occupied by the other person; “ _Paris! The capital of France is Paris,_ ” this time another buzz got heard but in sign of a correct answer. Minho chimed. “ _Do you want some coffee?_ ” The voice echoed to the living-room from the kitchen. Minho froze. The TV show became nothing else but background noises as he tried to process what just happened. “ _Minho, honey, do you want a cup of coffee?_ ” The voice got louder, accompanied by footsteps. Slowly, afraid, he turned his head to look behind him. There he was, wearing a light blue shirt and a pair of jogging, bright smile on his face and messy brown hair. “ _I do, yes._ ” Minho smiled just a tiny bit, looking as Jisung hummed and turned back to the kitchen. He didn’t even have time to turn back to his TV show and forget about it that Jisung was sitting next to him, arm circling his, a cup of coffee in hand. “ _And, that’s for you, honey_.” Minho looked at him, stared at him even, waiting to see if this was or was not a dream. Jisung stared back at him, nudging his shoulder onto his side and raising the cup a bit to show it better. After a moment, Minho smiled brightly and took the cup in his hand, taking a sip of it before putting it on the coffee table in front of him. Jisung cuddled onto his side, a leg over his, “ _So, who’s winning the game, honey?_ ”

He was lying on the couch, face flushed against the armrest and a small pillow. The TV was off, a faint noise was coming from the kitchen. Minho slowly stirred from his sleep, nudging his face a bit more against the pillow before getting up, breathing increasing as soon as he realized he was alone again. “ _Jisung?_ ” He heard rustling noises coming from the kitchen. He got up in one movement, walking towards the room, eyes still searching for his lover. “ _Jisung? Is that you?_ ” He saw someone in front of the sink, back hunched enough to be unrecognizable. Minho took a deep breath, inhaling enough air to make him a bit dizzy as he walked towards the person. “ _Hey, you’re finally awake_ ,” the person turned around, bright smile on their face, Minho’s own expectation crashing down on the floor as he stared at Felix. “ _I’m going back to sleep_ ,” he whispered, walking back to the couch. He lied flat on it; eyes tightly closed.

Felix and Hyunjin were whispering in the kitchen, Minho was too desperate to listen more closely to it. He could only decipher a few words; he wasn’t even sure he heard it correctly. “ _I’m worried about him_ ,” Hyunjin’s voice did sound worried. “ _But maybe it’s just stress_ ,” maybe the subject had changed, Felix seemed to talk about something else. “ _No, I’m sure that’s not what we should do_ ,” Hyunjin was talking over Felix, he could barely understand the sentence. “ _What are you doing?_ ” It wasn’t Felix. Nor was it Hyunjin. The voice made Minho jump from the couch. “ _Jisung!_ ” Minho immediately got teary, arms wrapped around the boy who simply hugged him back, caressing his hair after kissing his temple. “ _I was in the toilet, Minho_.” They both chuckled, hugging for a moment.

It had been happening for a week now. A week since Minho had been talking alone and crying for Jisung. Hyunjin was starting to get worried. And by worried, he meant worried sick, to the point he was always keeping an eye on him. He barely slept, barely ate, he couldn’t help but stay in the same room as Minho, or the one right next to him, keep an eye on him and see if he was doing ok. Minho _was_ doing ok, if we forgot the fact that he was _talking to his dead lover_. This wasn’t normal. Despite being supernatural beings, Hyunjin still knew that _this_ wasn’t normal. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Jisung couldn’t suddenly appear as a ghost sixty years later—had it been sixty years? Probably not.

He told everything to Felix, how he had met Jisung, their relationship, the war, his death… And now they both kept an eye on him. Minho seemed happy, until Jisung seemingly disappeared and he panicked, and as soon as he came back, Minho was happy again. Hyunjin and Chan knew how important Jisung was to Minho, how deep their bond had been. So, it was normal that Minho felt relief within him. It was simply not normal that he was there.

A week was all Hyunjin could bear. It had been hard enough to deal with Chan being gone, he couldn’t bear seeing Minho go nuts. He needed Minho to be sane so that they could save Chan. It was their plan. Their initial plan. And it was coming into form, almost ready. They simply put it aside since Minho seemed to talk more to _Jisung_ about their plan than to them. Which is why Hyunjin took things in hand. He left a note on the kitchen table, simply explaining that he’ll be gone for a few days, not to worry and that he’ll have his phone at any time. Minho was quick to call him. He was barely out of the forest when his phone rang.

“ _Where are you going?_ ” If he heard close enough, he could hear Minho’s voice from both his phone and the house.

“ _Looking for help_ ,” Hyunjin was quick to correct himself. “ _For Chan. To rescue Chan_.”

“ _Be careful, Hyunjin. We all need you_.” Minho was probably including Jisung in that ‘we’. It made Hyunjin even more worried.

It took him half a day to find the place. He hadn’t come here in decades, but nothing had changed. As soon as he crossed the gate, he got reminded of when Chan, Minho and himself had stepped on that same soil, when they had just arrived back in Seoul, days after Jisung’s passing.

“ _What are you doing here?_ ” The voice came from an abandoned house. He walked towards it, staring right into Minho’s ex-wife’s eyes. “ _I said, what are you doing here? You’re not welcomed in this place_.”

“ _I need a name_.” Hyunjin was sure of himself, confident and standing straight.

“ _None of us will help you_. _None of you_ ,” she talked like she was confident, but her eyes were quivering in fear.

“ _I need to find someone, to help Minho. I need a name_.” She stared at him. Other heads appeared in his peripheral vision. He ignored it, staring right back into her eyes, furrowing his eyebrows to state his impatience. “ _I need to help him. I know you loved him_. _Help me help him_.” It took her a few seconds of staring before sighing and opening her door. Hyunjin got inside in no time, going out with the name written on a paper.

“ _My head_ ,” he groaned, rubbing his face against the cold material. It was still pitch black in the room, everything felt heavy. The air was heavy on his body. Chan tried to get up, his body didn’t move an inch. He tried to put his hands flat on the floor to lift himself up, he only moved in his head, as his arms stayed straight to his side. “ _What the he—_ ” he got cut short as he heard a door being opened.

“ _How’s my favorite boy doing?_ ” His former leader laughed, kneeling in front of him, a hand flat on his cheek, lifting him up a tiny bit. “ _You don’t look so good_ ,” of course he wasn’t. “ _Do you need any help?_ ” He had this infuriating smile on his face.

“ _Not from you_ ,” Chan spat, almost tempted to literally spit on his face yet he refrained himself as he was in no position to fight back. The idea still stuck to his mind, though.

“ _Oh, how sweet of you to think I’d be the one helping you_.” He removed his hand from his cheek, Chan’s head hitting the floor once again. “ _So, let me ask you something. If you answer correctly, I’ll let you sit_.”

“ _Go to hell_.”

“ _Sweet. Already been._ ” He laughed again as he got up from the floor. “ _Sweet Christopher._ ” He brought a chair in front of Chan, sitting on it. “ _What happened in Sydney?_ ” Chan couldn’t keep his face as impassive as he thought, worry suddenly evident in his eyes as he understood what he wanted to know.

“ _You already know_.” He tried to play dumb.

“ _I’m not talking about your tall story; I’m talking about your little trip with your friends_.” He sounded annoyed.

“ _We ate food_.” Chan forced a dumb smile on his face.

“ _Christopher, oh sweet Christopher. Do not provoke me_ ,” he suddenly lifted his leg, the tip of his foot hitting Chan’s head. “ _Oops_ , _my bad_.” He then put his leg back to its original place, hitting Chan’s head once again. “ _So, Christopher. What happened in Sydney?_ ”

“ _You’re a vampire too?_ ” Hyunjin stayed standing next to the table, looking at the smaller man looking through a big book—it resembled the one with all the Vampire tales Chan kept in his room, except that this one had green gilding while Chan’s was bright gold.

“ _No, I’m simply… a human who’s been living for too long and too much_.” The man looked at Hyunjin with a bright smile, chuckling a bit before diving into the book once more. “ _Found it!_ ” He then took a large piece of paper from underneath the book, putting it on the left page as he scanned the right one, his index finger lingering on some words. “ _So, you said your brother’s lover died decades ago?_ ” Hyunjin hummed. “ _And that he started talking to him after your…other friend was kidnapped?_ ” Hyunjin hummed again. “ _Did he grieve correctly? Did he heal from the pain?_ ” The man looked at Hyunjin, staring right into his eyes, looking for his answer.

“ _I don’t know? I have actually no idea at all, it’s like… It’s like I started being close to him not long ago and now he’s already someone else._ ” He looked away from the smaller man, his eyes piercing right into his soul. He felt naked in front of him, emotions in the open air.

“ _Grieving is a very long process, and it can take many aspects… Hallucinations are a way to cope, sometimes_.” He wasn’t looking at him anymore. He was writing on his piece of paper. Things Hyunjin couldn’t see correctly. He tried focusing on the sound the pen was making while gliding on the paper. All the curves, the straight lines, the dots… He sighed.

“ _Will he heal once we get our friend back?_ ” The pen stopped. He regretted asking this. “ _We don’t even know how we’re gonna get him back… it’s hopeless, isn’t it?_ ”

“ _It’s never hopeless._ ” The man smiled softly, reassuringly. It warmed up Hyunjin, just enough to smile back.

“ _Thank you Changbin. Can I—Can I call you Changbin?_ _Or do you—Should I call you Mr. Seo? I—_ ”

“ _Changbin is fine, it is very fine, actually_.” He took a step towards Hyunjin, still smiling at him. Hyunjin’s face flushed red as he took a step back. Changbin then started to lean a bit towards him, it made Hyunjin panic… until he saw him pick another book, a big one. Changbin chuckled as he saw how flustered he had made the vampire.

Hyunjin stared at the book, looking as he was searching for something. “ _It’s a phone book_ ,” Changbin started. “ _I’ll give you the name of a friend. He can help you get your friend back._ ” Hyunjin inhaled sharply, embarrassed. “ _Just say I sent you, he’ll be nice to you_.”

“ _But that’s not—That’s not why I’m here_.”

“ _It’s fine Hyunjin, you need to get your friend back anyway_.” Changbin looked up, index finger pointing at a name. He was smiling at the vampire, for a few seconds before copying the name, number and address on the piece of paper that was still on the other book. He then handed him the paper; eyes soft when looking at him. “ _Just go home, help your brother, call my friend, and find yours_.” Hyunjin folded the paper in half, sliding it into his pocket before bowing politely.

“ _I’m back!_ ” He opened the door in one move, running towards the living-room as he spotted Felix and Minho’s figures.

“ _Oh my god! Finally! We were getting worried sick, Hyunjin!_ ” Felix was staring at him, wide eyes sparkling with threatening tears. Minho turned around too, slower, smiling not as bright as Felix but wide enough to make Hyunjin expectant.

The taller boy ran towards them, not realizing they had moved some of the furniture. His foot came crashing into the couch, his toe hurting like hell. He inhaled sharply, closing his eyes a few seconds as not to curse out loud.

“ _Oh shit! Hyunjin, you ok?_ ” Felix ran towards him, hands on his shoulder. Hyunjin opened his eyes again, nodding his head, bottom lip trapped between his teeth as he wasn’t trusting himself to talk yet, sure he was going to curse. “ _Sorry, we moved everything an inch or two on the left, we forgot to tell you_ ,” Felix explained the situation. Hyunjin heard Minho chuckled, he was ready to laugh too until he heard him talk, “ _I know it’s funny, Jisung, but he’s probably really hurt right now_.” Both Felix and Hyunjin sighed at the same time.

“ _And so, you’re calling me, because?_ ”

“ _Changbin said you could help_ ,” Hyunjin pleaded, hands clutched on his phone.

“ _Then tell Changbin he should shut his cakehole a bit more_ ,” there was a few seconds of silence, the man on the phone giggled at his own words. “ _I’m not doing this anymore, and I’m certainly not helping a stranger_.”

“ _Please, I’m begging you. Please_ ,” Hyunjin closed his eyes tightly, tears threatening to spill. “ _Changbin said you’d help us, that you’d help me. He told me—Changbin told me you could help, Kim Seungmin_.” He opened his eyes again, the piece of paper right in front of his face.

“ _I’m sorry, I retired_.”


	15. The Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix desperately wants to save Chan, to hold onto that feeling that he's alive, that they can save him. He puts his entire hope in that one lingering feeling he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a slightly longer chapter! I hope it answers some questions and is enjoyable! Have fun
> 
> (tbh i have no idea where i'm going with this chapter, i dissociated for a moment and then there was skz comeback and then felix did a vlive??? half of it was written during felix's vlive so if it doesn't make sense, that's his fault. half? maybe not half. 1/3 for sure. anyway! point is, don't expect too much and don't dive too much into it it probably is just pure rambling.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm no medicine / science student so there might be (again) inaccuracies!
> 
> A/N: Starting from tomorrow (09/16), I will go back to uni. I probably won't have that much time to write but I'll still keep this work updated, just slower than it already was!

It was like a wave of heat going through his body. Similar to having a hot liquid spreading through your veins. It woke him up. It made him jump in his bed, breath hitching in his throat, eyes watering from the unfamiliar feeling. “ _What’s going on?_ ” He looked on his left, then on his right, eyes getting waterier at each movement he made. His body was heavy, he wasn’t even sure he could move his limbs. His head was pounding heavily, everything around him was black. Pitch black. There was a heavy smell of sulfur and dirt. He wanted to throw up. His ears started to ring loudly, a deafening sound that made him cry in pain. And then… silence. Loud silence. Until he heard it. Those sound. _This_ sound. This breathing. Heavy breathing. He recognized it instantly. “ _Hel—Help me_ ,” the breathing began again.

“ _Felix! Felix, do you hear me?_ ” Minho shook him by the shoulders, gently. He moved one of his hand to caress his cheek, it was extremely hot, as if he had a fever. Minho winced in pain, moving the boy’s hair to tuck it behind his ear as he kept calling his name.

Felix finally opened his eyes, taking a deep breath as if he had been holding it this whole time, a stray tear rolling down his cheek at the same time he lunged forward, right into Minho’s arms, closing his eyes again. “ _I heard him_ ,” he said in one word, quickly in case he’d forget.

“ _What?_ ” Minho caressed his hair with one hand, the other resting flat on his back. “ _What did you say?_ ”

“ _I heard him_ ,” he repeated, slower. “ _I heard Chan_.”

Felix didn’t know Chan for _that_ long. Especially compared to Minho, or simply to Hyunjin. Compared to them, he barely knew him. He had barely arrived in their lives. But he was turned by him. There was a bond between them. A tight bond, that was plenty useful in this situation. Minho was the one to suggest using it. It wasn’t that easy at first; Felix isn’t that old in Vampire age; he doesn’t even have full control of his power yet. So, taking advantage of a bond? Even Hyunjin couldn’t do that—well, not like he wanted to use a bond with Minho’s father, nor could he as he’s presumed dead by the others’ rumors. Yet, Felix was already aware of that bond. He already felt it. He knew it was there, he simply didn’t know it was _that_ , nor that it was useful. He thought it was just a feeling. Some intuition he had. Maybe it was their _love_ that made it stronger? Minho didn’t know, didn’t even want to know. He just knew the _theory_ to use a bond and was ready to use it. They couldn’t pass an opportunity like that one, not if it could save Chan.

It was usually at night that Felix felt it the most. While he was asleep, probably paired with some sleepwalking. Or was it when both of them were asleep? When Chan was awake? Whatever it was, it worked better at night. Felix would fall asleep, and suddenly it was as if he was next to him. He could feel him next to him. It usually was only a feeling, faint, barely there. Until that night. Successful night. He heard him. He heard Chan, or what he was sure was Chan. He felt exhausted. He _sounded_ exhausted. Felix was in pain just to think about it. He needed to focus once more. Eyes closed tightly, he needed to feel it again, to hear him again, to focus hard enough to _see_.

Chan was still lying flat on his stomach, breath hitching in his throat every time. His former leader would come from time to time, repeatedly asking the same question; “ _What happened in Sydney?_ ” Chan knew what he was trying to make him say, and he wasn’t going to give him this pleasure. He couldn’t understand _why_ he wanted to know _that_ , however, what he was sure of, was that it wasn’t for anything good. He wasn’t going to use it for good. So, Chan held steady and played dumb, asking what he wanted to know, _when_ he was referring to, lying that they only swam and ate. Not like he could really say anything else, actually. Even if he knew what he wanted to know, how was he supposed to say what had happened to him when he himself didn’t know? Chan didn’t know if he kept this secret to himself because he was scared of what evil he could do with it, or simply because he was scared that he’d get killed him once he found out he had no clue about what happened.

There were no windows in the room he was kept in, no way to guess the time. How many days had passed? Not too much, he hoped. When he accepted to go instead of his family, he never thought he’d end up like this. He was promised a place in their group, he was told he was important for their survival. He was just confused now; stuck on the floor, unable to move and with this horrendous pain in his head. Chan wasn’t even sure he had fallen asleep once, he had been knocked out by that needle the old vampire had dug under his chin, but since then, he wasn’t sure he had closed his eyes even once. He was scared. _So damn scared_.

“ _Sweet Christopher let’s talk again today_ ,” he heard his former leader laugh. It made him angry. Just hearing his voice made Chan angry. He wanted nothing else but to see him suffer the same way they all suffered because of him.

“ _Which day is it?_ ” He tried to get up, in vain.

“ _Mh, do you really want to know?_ ” He took the same chair he always took, putting it right in front of his face as he sat on it. “ _Can’t you even count, Christopher? I come once per day_.”

Chan tried to get up again, trying to remember how many times he had seen his face—or heard his voice as he was too tired to look up anymore. Four? Five? Had it been almost a week? “ _Shit_ ,” he breathed out, desperately trying to move his hands. If it had really been five days, it was already too long. He needed to get out of here. To _move_.

“ _Christopher, stop trying. Let me ask you a different question this time_ ,” he crossed his left leg over his right one, the tip of his shoe under Chan’s chin to lift it just enough for him to stare into his eyes. “ _Do you know what tetrodotoxin is?_ ” He had a sly smile on his face, that Chan desperately wanted to punch off.

“ _How’d I know?_ ” He tried removing his head from the other’s shoe, but it was so heavy he could barely roll it on the side. He couldn’t understand the purpose of that question.

“ _It’s a natural molecule, a toxin, found in some animals. You see,_ ” he removed his foot in one move, Chan’s head hitting the floor loudly. Chan closed his eyes and bit his lip to keep quiet. “ _Once injected into one’s body, it goes straight to the nerves, and cuts the transmission to the muscles. Making you unable to move. But still, pain_ ,” he loudly crashed his foot onto Chan’s hand, the boy biting his lip tighter as not to whimper in pain. “ _Pain’s still there. Impressive, isn’t it?_ ”

“ _I’m—I’m no—no human_ ,” he said while still trying to contain his pain.

“ _Oh, no. You’re not. You’re healing. Eliminating the poison. That’s why I keep injecting you some._ ” He chuckled, moving his foot left to right onto Chan’s hand. “ _If you were human, you’d be long dead with this dose in your body, Christopher_.” And he laughed. He once again laughed, so loudly, evilly, but finally removing his foot from his hand. Chan was ready to fight that poison out of his body and punch him in the face. How perfect would that be, heroic even. But he couldn’t. He could simply imagine it in his head, as he stayed flat on the floor, tears heavy in his eyes.

“ _Now, let’s chat._ ” He lifted Chan’s head once again, getting down from his chair to kneel in front of him. “ _What happened in Sydney, sweet Christopher? If you tell me, I’ll remove the needle from your skin._ ”

Even with how tempting that offer sounded, he refused. He kept playing dumb and said his usual answer; “ _we ate_.” The older vampire seemed to take the hint that he wasn’t going to answer as he gave up _for today_ , letting Chan fall back onto the floor, putting the chair back in place and leaving the room with a snarky laugh.

Chan wanted to cry his heart out, to scream, to move, to throw a fit like a child. He wanted to _move_. Chan wanted nothing but to move his body. What could possibly be worse at this point?

Chan felt it since day one (or what he counts as day one). He simply didn’t know what that was. Because what it felt like, it couldn’t be it. He was probably simply hallucinating, as a side effect of the poison. That was his only explanation. Whatever the other had injected into his chin—which he now knew the name of—made him hallucinate. Simply because there was no way on earth that he could feel Felix beside him. There was no way that Felix could be anywhere else than in their shared bedroom. There was no way that Felix could use their bond—even he couldn’t do that. Or, maybe he could? He didn’t really try, actually. He wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to use it. He barely read about it, mostly because he thought he’d never ever have one. He really never planned on having a bond with someone—a vampire, at least. He wasn’t against love. Nor was he against having a child. It was the burden of being a vampire that scared him the most and made him refuse to see other people. Yet, there he was. Still. There he was, with a bond. With a child. A lover. A double bond and he didn’t know how he was supposed to use it. Could he even use it in his state? He felt pathetic. Useless. He couldn’t even move, how was he supposed to take advantage of his bond?

Still, he kept trying. Whenever he could, he tried. He closed his eyes, concentrating and the warmth inside his body—was it the poison or the bond? He still focused on it, whether it was the poison and he was getting rid of it, whether it was the bond and he was making it stronger. Whatever it was, it could be useful. It seemed to work. Every day, he felt it stronger. Felix’s smell. Felix’s warmth. He was close. So close. Never close enough to hear him. Maybe Felix didn’t know how to use their bond either. Maybe it was just pure luck? Or maybe, there was a slight chance, that Chan hoped wasn’t true, that he was simply hallucinating because of the poison.

What motivated him to keep trying, was every time the vampire would come in and hurt him. At first, he healed within an hour. But then, he started to take longer and longer to heal. To have residual pain. Or not to heal at all. He was barely fed. He wasn’t even sure he _was_ fed at all. And there was still this poison, going through his skin, his veins, his nerves. He couldn’t both fight the poison and heal his injuries. On a survival choice, he chose to ignore his injuries. He stopped trying to heal everything. He just needed to fight that poison and focus on _that bond_. He wanted to believe in it, that it was all true, that Felix could feel him too. He needed to believe in something, and he chose that. That bond.

Every night, he’d focus on that bond, that feeling. Eyes tightly closed, breathing as even as he could. He tried to talk to Felix. Out loud at first, but as it never really did anything, he tried talking in his head. Louder every time. At first, he’d go too complicated; “ _Felix is that you? Can you hear me? Felix talk to me if you can hear me_.” It never did anything. It was too long, too much. So, he’d go simpler each time; “ _Felix can you hear me?_ ” “ _Felix, it’s me Chan_.” “ _Felix is it you?_ ” It never gave results. He was getting desperate. The old vampire had come five other times. It had been ten days, if he counted right. Almost two weeks. It was so long, and he couldn’t bear the other’s talking.

“ _Maybe if I tell you some old stories you will be able to remember?_ ” He sat on the chair in front of Chan, with the same sly smile on his face. “ _Oh, Christopher. You won’t even answer me anymore?_ ” His foot slammed onto the other’s cheek; a loud noise echoed through the walls. “ _Rude,_ ” he rubbed the pained cheek with the tip of his shoe. “ _I’ll tell you a story. You better listen carefully_. _I’ll ask you questions at the end_ ,” and he continued talking. Chan didn’t want to listen, however, as soon as he heard the first words, he couldn’t not listen.

He wasn’t telling any story. He was telling _his_ story. Chan’s story. All those years they had spent together. All the things they did. Some that Chan regretted more than anything. He was telling it. Out loud. Too loud.

“ _You vowed fidelity to me. You’re the one who betrayed me, Christopher_.” He didn’t even have the force to refute this. “ _You used to listen to me so well_ ,” he sighed heavily, as if he was regretting the past. “ _Remember when we’d go and fed on humans?_ ” He chuckled, seemingly amused by that memory when all Chan wanted to do was puke. “ _That sweet girl we kept in our house; do you remember her? What was her name? Emily? No, that sounds wrong_ ,” he hummed to show he was thinking hard. “ _Oh, I know! Molly! That was such a sweet name_ ,” he giggled, visibly remembering some details Chan had long forgotten. “ _Anyway. Do you remember Molly? You loved feeding on her, if I recall correctly. Oh, of course I am. She loved you a lot, you know._ ” Chan breath hitched in his throat. He barely remembers the girl; he just remembered the first few times he saw her. His leader took him by the arm, leading him to a secluded part of the house. It had velveted walls, it looked like a brothel with all these dim lights and velvet. In that room was a girl, almost the same height as Chris, long dark brown hair, a bit curly at the ends, small hazel eyes, still glassy as she probably cried for hours before they came inside. Chris was very confused when he was set next to her. She had a torn-out dress, the color was fading so much Chris couldn’t say if it was brown or green. He could barely focus on anything; his head was foggy. “ _Have dinner, Chris_.” He didn’t understand what he meant by that. So, as credulous as a child, he stared at his leader, mouth slightly agape, teeth already out at the mention of _dinner_. His leader laughed, pushing the girl’s head on the side. He then instructed him to feed on her. He stopped him once he had taken _enough_ to keep her alive. The girl cried. Molly cried. But then, each time Chris was put in the room, he’d be gentle. So gentle, not to hurt her. It was rule number one, not to hurt Molly, not to make Molly _escape_. No one really knew where she was coming from, who she really was, why she was here… the boys just took turns feeding on her. Chris was one of the only one to talk to her. And by talking, really talking. Not the usual “ _move your head_ ” or “ _does it hurt?_ ” that everyone said. He took time to know how she felt, if she was sick, if she ate enough, and all the other things to make the situation more comfortable. Everyone knew she had a soft spot for Chris. It probably was simply a side effect of him being gentle with her. There wasn’t much going on between them. He just talked, fed, talked again and then left the room. Still, everyone started to spread rumors about them. “ _It was so painful to kill her right after telling her you betrayed us_ ,” the old vampire laughed. Chan wanted to snap his head up and stare at him coldly. He wanted to rip his face off.

“ _You did what?_ ” Even with how sick it made him feel, that he fed on a human, one that was kept captive on top of that, she didn’t deserve to die. Well, she would have at some point. She just didn’t deserve to be killed! Not by a monster like him.

“ _I snapped her neck; it was so satisfying. The sound,_ ” he hummed in pleasure, his foot pushing on Chan’s cheek until his other cheek was flat on the ground. He looked down, enjoying the boy’s face as he pushed a bit more, pain evident in his eyes even if he kept quiet. “ _You’re no fun at all, Christopher_.” He removed his foot in one move, getting up on his feet. He walked around Chan, mumbling to himself. Chan barely understood what was happening until he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He tried to turn his head, to lift it and look behind him. He needed to know what was causing him so much pain. It got so bad that he couldn’t keep his cry to himself.

“ _There it is! Finally, you’re finally giving it to me!_ ” The vampire laughed loudly, taking great delight in the boy’s cry. “ _You better heal that one, or your leg will stay broken forever, sweetheart_.” He then sat back on the chair. It wasn’t over. It was long. So long. Chan was agonizing in pain. He needed to get out.

Which is why, after twelve days stuck in here, Chan’s attempt at communicating with Felix became desperate. He was desperate. “ _Felix, I miss you_.” “ _Please Felix come_ ” “ _Help me_ ”

It had been a bit more than two weeks; he knew because today was the sixteenth day his former leader came to sit in front of him. He had a sprained ankle that was not healing, poison filling his entire body, head about to explode if it hit the ground one more time, he could barely feel his chest and maybe his arm was broken he didn’t even know at this point. He needed everything to stop. Felix wasn’t talking to him. Maybe he really did hallucinate everything. Maybe there was no bond, or it wasn’t useful. Maybe he was so desperate to be rescued that he imagined it all. But now, he was faced with reality. He was alone, and he needed to get himself out of here. He wasn’t as powerful as everyone thought. He was barely above average. He was a mere average vampire, not even able to fight back and expulse that poison out of his body. He didn’t deserve all the praises he always had. Maybe he was a 1st Generation, but he wasn’t powerful like one. His former leader was. He really was a 1st Generation. Chan didn’t deserve his rank. Minho was more powerful than him. Hyunjin was. Felix probably was, too! There was only one way to get out of here, and he knew it.

“ _My little Christopher, how are you feeling today?_ ” He didn’t even make the effort to look at him. He just knew he was placing the chair in front of his face, that he was sitting on it and soon he’ll have a shoe under his chin to lift his head without him moving a muscle—not like he could anyway.

“ _He summoned me_ ,” Chan said in a raspy voice.

“ _Oh? We’re talking today? That is very nice. Go on, sweetheart_.” The shoe under his chin moved to be closer to his throat, yet not doing any harm.

“ _I was walking in the streets and he dragged me down._ ” Chan tried to remember as much as he could, to give enough details, so that maybe he’ll come out of here alive. “ _Everything was like in 1493. When I died. It was just like when I died and made the pact_.” He couldn’t explain it any better. The older vampire hummed.

“ _Did you see him when he dragged you down?_ ”

“ _It was all black, I couldn’t see. I just… I felt it, I guess? I felt myself falling._ ”

“ _What did he tell you?_ ” He pressed the tip of his shoe against Chan’s Adam’s apple, not enough to make him choke, just enough to make him know it was there.

“ _He said he needed me to have a son_ ,” Chan confessed, tears threatening to spill. He couldn’t believe himself, that he was weak enough to give him what he wanted.

“ _What else did he say? Did he say why? Did you see it?_ ”

“ _See what?_ ” The pressure on his throat got harder.

“ _The contract_ ,” he leaned in, just enough to have his face closer to Chan.

“ _Barely? He showed me, but I—_ ” he choked on his own saliva, coughing hard. “ _I barely saw it, just the part about the children… he said I needed to give him some_.”

“ _And you did_ ,” he removed his shoe from under his chin, kneeling in front of him. Chan felt two hands on both of his cheeks, and then his body getting lifted from the floor. “ _You gave him a son._ ”

They heard grunt noises from outside of the room. Chan didn’t register it. He didn’t even know what was beyond that door, nor where the door was. It was too dark here; he could barely decipher the old vampire’s face. He simply knew enough what he looked like to imagine him.

“ _I know you enough, you didn’t give him willingly._ ” He continued, visibly ignoring the noise. “ _What did he do to you?_ ” He felt nails digging in his flesh.

The noises became louder, closer. They both stopped breathing. They both focused on the noise. The old vampire was confused. Confused enough to leave Chan’s face fall on the floor as he took a few steps back. Chan recognized the noise. He’d recognize it anywhere in the world.

The door banged on the wall, hot air filling the room. It smelt like freedom. It _was_ freedom. Light entered the room at once, blinding Chan enough for him to close his eyes and whimper in pain.

“ _Chan!_ ” He heard that low and deep voice he had longed for days calling his name. He couldn’t register anything. Simply hitting noises, grunts and pained noises. He didn’t look. He kept his eyes closed, shutting the noise out. He wanted to cry. Of pain. Of relief. Whatever that was, he simply needed to cry it out.

“ _No! Don’t let him go!_ ” That was definitely Minho’s voice.

“ _I’ll take care of it!_ ” He didn’t recognize that voice.

“ _Chan, we’re here. I’m here_ ,” he felt Felix’s hand on his cheek. Comforting. Reassuring. Warm. He wanted to lean into it, he simply couldn’t.

He felt two arms sliding underneath his own arms, lifting him from the floor. He grunted in pain, opening his eyes and falling face to face with Felix. They both smiled, tears spilling from the corner of their eyes.

“ _Are you ok? Can you walk?_ ” Felix lifted him enough for him to be on his feet, yet Chan almost fell, the younger holding him tight by the arms.

“ _I can’t move, I can’t—_ ” he took a deep breath, trying to control his tears. “ _There’s—He said there’s a needle and—It’s poison I can’t—_ ” He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t grasp the situation. Felix was here. He was there in front of him and he had just given up. He had given the old vampire exactly what he wanted. He was pathetic. He was weak. He was so weak, he hated himself. He wanted to cry his soul out.

He saw Felix pulling him onto his chest, close enough to look like a hug. Next thing he knows, the needle is out of his back and thrown on the floor.

“ _We’ll get you out, now_.” Felix’s voice is soft. So soft. He doesn’t deserve such softness.

He’s once again put on his feet, Felix putting one of his arms around his shoulder, holding onto his hand. He barely feels Felix’s hand on his waist. He just knows it’s here.

Finally looking away from Felix, he sees Minho and Hyunjin in front of them, warm smiles on their face. Next to them is another man he cannot recognize. Brown hair, taller than Minho yet smaller than Hyunjin, completely black eyes, blood on his hands. “ _Let’s go_ ,” the stranger says. It isn’t the voice he heard before. There was someone else, another stranger. Chan doesn’t understand the situation. He just dives into Felix’s warmth and Minho and Hyunjin’s comforting eyes, letting them help him out of this room.

He still can’t help the lingering feelings of betrayal that invades his soul. If he had held a tiny bit longer, maybe, just maybe he wouldn’t have given the other man what he wanted. If only he had held on just one more day.


	16. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is back to normal. Or maybe it isn't? What was normal, again? Chan needs to get back to his own life, everyone needs to find their routine again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit long, I hope it's still good. It's currently 4am, I am very sleep deprived and this is not beta read. I'm currently planning the end of this work, so, bear with me a bit longer.

Minho and Felix were holding onto Chan’s body, lifting him just enough from the floor to walk out of the room. Minho could probably have lifted him alone and saved him on his own, but Felix kept on holding onto him. He recognized the look he had in his eyes, knowing that he probably had the same with Jisung, so, he didn’t say anything, and he let him lift him up with him. Hyunjin was behind them, with the two other men. They could hear them talking but didn’t listen hard enough to understand what they were talking about. Chan wanted to know what they were talking about, but his head was too foggy and painful for him to focus on anything else but his own thoughts. On their way out, they saw a few bodies on the floor, blood on the walls, head separated from their bodies. Chan threw up. He couldn’t bear it. He threw up on the floor and both Minho and Felix stopped at the same time. They stayed frozen, waiting for the older vampire to finish. Minho couldn’t help the sound of disgust that left his mouth, when Felix simply rubbed soothing circles on Chan’s back, hoping he could feel them and be comforted by them. The three men behind them didn’t realize right away that they had stopped walking. They bumped on their back. At least, Hyunjin bumped onto Minho’s. The two others may have succeeded at avoiding the couple.

“ _What’s wrong? Why did we stop?_ ” He looked over Minho’s shoulder, his eyes immediately darting to look at Chan. “ _Oh no! Is he—Is he ok?_ ” He wasn’t talking to them. He was already looking at the two other men. At one in particular. The smaller one.

“ _He will be once we get him out of here, and once he gets treated for his wounds_ ,” the voice said. It didn’t come from the small man. It was from the other one. The one with black eyes.

Chan’s head was throbbing with pain. He kept on wincing at every move they made. He was slowly feeling his fingers and toes. In a matter of minutes, he’d be able to move his hands. Maybe he’ll try to stand on his own. Maybe in an hour he’ll be able to walk, to move his arms, maybe at the end of the day he’ll have completely healed.

As soon as they got out of the place, Chan realized where he was locked all this time. It was in the middle of the city. It was an old factory, almost completely in ruined. He looked up, searching for answers in his friends’ eyes. They were avoiding his eyes. So, he looked at the two strangers. The one with black eyes had now dark brown eyes. He stared right at him and then scoffed, leaving to enter a car Chan didn’t even see in the first place. He then looked at the other one, the one he had heard before but not seen until now. He was small. Probably smaller than Jisung was. He had stern eyes, but fondness written all over his face. There was something about him, in his scent, Chan couldn’t grasp what it was, way too foggy to focus on it. Hyunjin turned to look at the small man, taking his hands in his; “ _Thank you, for helping us_.” The man in front of him simply smiled before tiptoeing and whispering in Hyunjin’s ear. Chan wanted to listen, to take control over his family again, yet the sole idea of listening closely made his head throb with pain. He gave up, leaning his head against Felix’s shoulder. Or, tried to. He didn’t move. He still couldn’t move his head. He felt his hands. He felt his feet. It stopped there. He still couldn’t move. He wasn’t healing, he could just _feel the pain_.

Minho helped Chan to get in the backseat of the car. Felix sat next to him, Minho at the other end. Hyunjin sat in the front, next to the odd man with either black or brown eyes. The other stranger stayed outside of the car, next to the passenger door, talking to Hyunjin. Well, he wasn’t really talking, yet they seemed to understand each other. Hyunjin smiled brightly, giggling even a little bit; “ _Ok, see you later then?_ ” The other hummed, tapping twice on the car’s roof before taking a step back. The stranger behind the wheel sighed, waving the other goodbye. And they were gone.

Chan dared asking where they were going. As if any other answer was possible, it still reassured him to hear “ _home, we’re going home_ ,” from Felix’s mouth. It was so reassuring that he fell asleep. It was his first time—that he could recall—in a car. It was new to him, being in a moving vehicle. It lulled him to sleep. Added to his body trying to heal, he was exhausted and fell asleep in an instant. Right before falling into deep sleep, he overheard the others’ conversation, it made him smile; “ _I’m glad the plan succeeded. I’m glad we’re finally going home_.”

Chan slowly opened his eyes. Everything was dark. Cold, and dark. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hand stayed stuck to his side. He tried to move, but his body was heavy. Too heavy to listen to him. He started to panic, to breathe faster, his eyes got watery. He heard footsteps. And then a laugh. That laugh. That one laugh. He was still there. Still lying on that cold dirty floor, needle stuck on his back as poison ran through his veins. “ _Let me go!_ ” he screamed at the top of his lungs. Tears rolled down his cheeks, he couldn’t even control them, they were just overflowing from his eyes. The laugh only got louder, echoing in the room, all around him. He was all around him. Surrounding him. He was everywhere. Chan was stuck. Stuck in that room. He’ll stay stuck forever.

“ _Hey. Hey, Chan, wake up_ ,” he felt a hand shaking him softly. Reluctantly, frightened even, he opened his eyes. Felix’s face greeted him with a worried look; “ _Are you ok?_ ” Chan opened his mouth, no sound coming from it beside a choked sob. “ _Hey, love, are you ok?_ ” Felix caressed his cheek tenderly, softly brushing his nose against his. Chan closed his eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek as he whimpered a _yes_. They heard a cough coming from the front of the car. Felix chuckled, kissing the tip of Chan’s nose; “ _Yes, Seungmin. We’ll stop, don’t cough louder than that._ ” He then took Chan’s hand in his, opening the door. That’s when Chan realized they were in front of the forest.

How long had they been parked in front of the forest? Were they waiting for Chan to wake up so that they could go _home_? He looked around him, as much as his stuck neck allowed him to. Minho was there, looking at an empty spot next to the car with a fond smile. Felix was standing next to Chan, holding him on his feet as he still couldn’t move. Seungmin, as he recalled, was helping him too, on the other side. And then, there was Hyunjin, next to the other new man, what was his name? Changbin, wasn’t it? When did he arrive? Had it been this long already? Because Chan clearly recalled that man leaving way after them, how did he get there so quickly? Was he even human for coming this quickly? He was about to ask when he had arrived, when he saw the car parked next to Seungmin’s—or what he assumed was Seungmin’s. So, he simply drove another car? It somehow made sense, as they were now six and the car only had five seats.

“ _Can you please stop whining so much?_ ” Seungmin growled, a hand painted with Chan’s blood.

“ _Oh, yes, sure, excuse me to be in pain when you have your literal hand going through a cut in my thigh_ ,” Chan scoffed, painfully sarcastic as he stared at the younger man in front of him. Was he younger? He sure looked younger, maybe he wasn’t?

“ _Just bear it five more minutes, if you want to walk again._ ” He didn’t even let time for an answer as he dug his finger in Chan’s thigh once more, the vampire biting onto his bottom lip hard enough to make it bleed. Not like he had much blood left in his body anyway.

The other men were scattered through the house. Minho was in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in hand as he was talking with someone—Chan didn’t know who, as no one else was in the kitchen, maybe he was on the phone with a friend? Did Minho even have friend beside them? Hyunjin was in his room with that Changbin guy—Chan thought about asking about that guy, a bit suspicious of him. And Felix was in the living-room, sitting next to Chan as he held his hand, looking as Seungmin was treating his wounds. Seungmin wasn’t much of a talker. He was cold. Colder than Chan ever was. He had this cold stern look on his face, only spoke if asked a question first, or to complain. There was no in-between. At least, with Chan. He seemed to speak ok with Changbin, with Hyunjin too. Minho and Felix seemed to be somewhere in the middle; he didn’t speak much to them but would be less cold than with Chan. Was there something wrong with Chan? He should ask. He didn’t dare to. Not when he had his hand inside his thigh. Maybe later.

“ _So, how’s it going?_ ” Changbin sat on the couch in one loud thud, one leg over the other.

“ _I’m almost done, just wait a few more minutes and then you can do your stuff_ ,” Seungmin’s words were gentler than with Chan. He wasn’t jealous. He was just confused.

“ _Ok, I’ll go prepare it now_.” Changbin got up again, about to go to the kitchen when Chan called his name. He turned towards him, waiting a few seconds for Chan to turn towards him too when he remembered that, first, he couldn’t move, two, he had hands inside his wounds and moving wouldn’t be recommended.

“ _Prepare what? What are you going to do?_ ” Wasn’t Seungmin already treating his wounds? Well, it was a bit barbaric to treat it with his hands deep inside of it, but it somehow seemed to work.

“ _Oh, so, no one told you? Well, it’d be funnier to let you see it for yourself, then_.” He chuckled and left the room.

“ _What?_ ” Chan wanted to turn around. “ _What is that supposed to mean?_ ” His voice rose a bit. He heard Felix and Seungmin chuckling, they knew what he meant. “ _What is that supposed to mean?_ ” He repeated, a bit irritated. Chan wasn’t fond of the unknown, even less when it involved himself, nor when he was the only one not knowing.

“ _Everything will be fine, love_.” Felix kissed his cheek. “ _Don’t you trust me?_ ” He giggled against his ear. Right now, it was the most pleasant sound Chan ever heard. He wanted to nuzzle his nose against Felix’s neck, to drown himself in his scent, in his warmth. He couldn’t. So, he took what he could. He closed his eyes, sighing deeply.

“ _I trust you,_ ” he whispered. Seungmin groaned, as if he was disgusted by the sight of the two lovers—he probably was, as far as Chan knew.

A few minutes later, as Seungmin had said, he was done. He got up on his feet, staring at Chan’s bloody thighs and arms before leaving to the bathroom, to clean himself Chan assumed. Then, it was Changbin’s turn. Chan had been imagining everything and anything. Maybe he hadn’t imagined far enough as he got surprised when Changbin came back with a small bowl.

“ _What are you going to do with this?_ ” The vampire held his breath for an instant, observing as the stranger kneeled on the floor in front of him. He had a better view of the inside of the bowl, it was some sort of mixture, greenish, brownish, whatever it was it didn’t look good.

“ _If I tell you now, it’ll spoil the surprise,_ ” he had this undecipherable smile on his face. “ _Can’t you wait a tiny bit longer?_ ” Chan gulped, staring into the other’s pleading eyes. Why was he even pleading, when he clearly already decided he wasn’t going to tell him? Still, Chan hummed in agreement—he would have nodded if he could have. It seemed to please Changbin. He laughed in amusement, moving left and right like a child who just had his very first lollipop. Careless, he almost spilled some of the mixture from the bowl. As soon as he realized, he stopped moving, keeping a large smile on his face.

And then it happened. Chan couldn’t do anything but stare as the man put a serious look on his face and applied the mixture on the wounds, every single one of them, muttering words Chan couldn’t decipher. He could only hear half of them, yet even if he heard correctly, he didn’t understand them. He was so focused on the words that he barely felt it. Until it was unbearable, and he cried of pain. It burned. It was burning so much it was unbearable.

“ _What the hell are you doing to me?_ ” He yelled, muscles contracting as the urge to stand up ran through his body. “ _Get it away from me!_ ” He stared, horrified, as the mixture disappeared, slowly, through his skin, inside of his body. It became hotter with every passing second. “ _Just fucking remove it!_ ” He wanted to slap the man kneeling in front of him. He wanted to punch the smile out of his face. He did. His hand fell flat on his cheek, a huge sound echoing through the living-room. They both stared at each other, Chan not believing he had just slapped the other on the cheek, Changbin with a dumb smile on his face but also tears prickling in his eye as his cheek was probably stinging like hell.

“ _You’re welcome_ ,” the man got up from the floor, taking the bowl that he had put on the floor, and bowed before leaving the room.

Chan was still frozen, arm straight and hand still where it previously had contact with Changbin’s cheek. Felix was staring at him, mouth wide open.

“ _What happened? I heard a loud noise and—Chan you moved!_ ” Hyunjin ran to the couch, falling on his knees as he lunged himself towards the older man, hugging him with teary eyes. “ _Oh my god you moved!_ ” He hugged him tight, not knowing what had just happened.

“ _I—Hyunjin, I—I slap—Oh my god I slapped him!_ ” Chan muttered to himself, or to Hyunjin, or maybe he shouted it to everyone. He wasn’t even sure. He could barely grasp what was reality and what was not, at this point.

“ _You what?_ ” Voices were coming from all around the room. Was it Hyunjin? Maybe it was Felix? Or it could even be Minho? Probably Seungmin? It was too distorted to be recognized. He didn’t know who had just talked. He didn’t know where to look. His eyes kept going from left to right, he didn’t know where to focus. Until he felt hands on his face, keeping his head straight. Felix slowly forced his head to stare at him, fingers soft against his skin.

“ _Love, calm down. Breathe with me_ ,” he then inhaled deeply, still staring at Chan and waiting for him to imitate him. Once he did, he held his breath a few seconds before exhaling deeply. Chan did too. They kept going until Chan’s eyes stopped quivering. Until Felix removed his hands from his face, a small smile on his face. “ _Feeling better?_ ” The older vampire nodded at the question, head falling against his shoulder.

“ _So, how are you doing mister oldie?_ ” It was Changbin’s voice. “ _You don’t deal very well with pain, do you?_ ” The sarcasm was evident in his voice.

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” it was all Chan could say.

Chan could move again. He was still weak, too weak to walk on his own, too weak to be completely healed yet. But he could move, and that was already a lot.

“ _You need to rest, for at least a month. Don’t starve yourself, and just focus on healing, ok?_ ” Changbin was staring into his eyes, right through his soul. Chan couldn’t do anything but nod and thank him.

As soon as the two strangers were gone, Felix forced Chan to go rest in his bed. It made him laugh yet he couldn’t say no to him, so, he let him walk him to his room. “ _Lie down with me_ ,” he said in a whisper when Felix was about to leave. He didn’t need to ask twice, as Felix instantly lied down next to him, arms around his waist and head resting against his chest.

“ _I missed you_ ,” he said as he kissed his chest through his shirt.

Felix fell asleep. Chan couldn’t. He was scared to close his eyes and to discover it was all a dream. He was scared to wake up in this cold room again. So, he kept on staring at his ceiling, looking around his room and enumerating every object he could find. He held Felix close to him, fingers drawing random forms on his skin. He wanted to make sure he was there. He needed to make sure he wasn’t back there again. He needed to know everything was real.

The next day was harder than he thought. Not because he couldn’t wake up—he hadn’t slept—but because Felix had to leave for work. He was left alone in his bed, forced to _rest and heal_. Chan knew that Minho and Hyunjin were there. He knew that.

He could hear Minho quite well. He was in the kitchen, getting a cup of coffee—he wanted to keep count of how many cups he drank but Felix had left not even for an hour and Minho already had five cups, so he gave up. He could hear him talk. He could hear him pretty well, but it didn’t make sense. Chan assumed he was hallucinating. Because there was no way Minho had just asked _Jisung to pass him a sugar_. He probably misheard.

Then, there was Hyunjin. He couldn’t hear him, because he wasn’t making any noise. Yet, he knew he was there. He could smell him. Sense him. Feel him. He was in his room. Probably reading his _Alice in Wonderland_ book. He just knew he was there, because Hyunjin had this special scent. They all had. Felix was peach. Minho was coffee. And Hyunjin was… Hyunjin was special. He smelled like an old bookstore, filled with old books. Hyunjin smelled like vanilla and wood mixed together. Did he, himself, had a particular scent? Maybe he’d ask them one day. As of now, he just knew there was coffee and old books filling the house. He wasn’t alone.

“ _You should eat something_ ,” Hyunjin sat on the edge of his bed, a blood bag in his right hand.

“ _I’m waiting for Felix; he should come home soon_.” Chan was sitting on his bed, his back resting against the wall. Felix had said he’d be back for lunch, that they’d eat together.

“ _I’ll just leave it there, then. But promise me you’ll eat_.” Hyunjin had this pleading look on his face that Chan just couldn’t say no to. Hyunjin smiled as soon as he promised to eat. He put the blood bag on his bedside table, ready to leave. Chan took his left hand in his, holding him in place.

“ _Can I ask you something?_ ”

“ _Sure, anything._ ” Hyunjin sat back on the bed, moving his hand to be the one holding Chan’s instead of Chan holding his.

“ _What happened, when I was gone?_ ” Hyunjin knew this question would come one day. Yet, he seemed caught off guard. The younger vampire moved a bit closer to Chan, intertwining their hands as he started to talk.

It was too many information to take at once. Chan couldn’t believe it. It just couldn’t have happened, there was no way all of this could have happen in only two weeks, right?

“ _I promise it’s the truth. I wish it wasn’t. I know it’s a lot. But that’s what—Are you ok, Chan?_ ” Worry was evident in Hyunjin’s voice. It was his first time seeing Chan crying. He was shaking. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t talk. Chan felt like he was dying. _He was dying_. Every sob was a painful blow to his head.

How could he be ok after learning that his closest friend was hallucinating his dead boyfriend as a way to cope with his own absence? It was his fault. He caused him so much pain. Everything was his fault. He should have never accepted the old crazy man’s deal. He should have let Minho and him fight. They should have been able to fight them and avoid all of this. Now, they all had blood on their hands. They had to make unfaithful deals. They all had to go through so much, and it was his fault. How could he ever be ok, with all of this responsibility?

“ _Chan, can you hear me? Hey, love, can you hear me?_ ” He nodded his head, slowly, barely. “ _Then, breathe with me, ok?_ ” And there they were again. Felix in front of him, showing him how to breathe.

Hyunjin was still next to him, observing them. He felt useless, yet grateful that Felix had arrived home at the right time. As soon as Chan became aware of the real world again, he took the blood bag from the bedside table, drinking it as he lied down on the bed, closing his eyes. He was exhausted. Too exhausted to even pay attention to the two younger boys talking right beside him.

“ _I’ll just take some day off,_ ” Felix whispered to Hyunjin, one hand resting on Chan’s stomach, caressing it in a soothing movement.

“ _Are you sure?_ ” Hyunjin was shivering.

“ _He clearly needs someone beside him, I can’t leave him like that_.” They both sighed. “ _What if it happens again?_ ” Chan stopped listening. He turned on his side, taking Felix’s hand in his and holding his tightly as he fell himself falling asleep. He was scared to fall asleep. But his body was too tired to listen to him.

“ _What did you tell him?_ ” Felix was sitting on the couch with Hyunjin. As soon as Chan had fallen asleep, they had left the room—leaving the door slightly opened in case he woke up—and went to the living-room.

“ _Nothing much,_ ” Hyunjin felt guilty. “ _He asked me what happened when he—_ ” He just couldn’t say it.

“ _Then, what exactly did you say? How did you say it?_ ” Felix was impatient. He was impulsive. He was protective, even. If he had to ask one more time, he’d probably yell.

“ _I told him for… For Jisung. And, well, he asked who Changbin and Seungmin were_.” Hyunjin’s voice was dying down with each word, suddenly realizing why Chan had reacted that way.

“ _Did you seriously—And you?_ ” Felix couldn’t align more than three words. He rubbed his hands on his face, exhaling loudly. “ _He barely recovered from his injuries, and you told him that Minho talk to a dead man? That you went to see his ex-wife to get a warlock’s name? And then that you asked a demon to help us? Please don’t tell me you—_ ” He stared at Hyunjin for a few second. Him adverting his eyes was enough of an answer. “ _You told him about our rescue plan?_ ” He bit his bottom lip in order not to punch something. His eyebrows furrowed, he inhaled deeply, trying to calm his anger down. “ _Hyunjin, please. Please at least tell me you understand the situation?_ ”

Hyunjin nodded, hands clutched to his knees. He felt like the younger here. He felt like a child getting reprimanded. He wanted to cry, to beg for forgiveness and then seclude himself to his room. He felt terrible. He didn’t think bad when he answered Chan. It was normal for him to want to know, right? Maybe he should have kept some of the truth hidden? Maybe he should have kept it for later? Or maybe he should have asked Felix to tell him. Whatever he should have done, it was too late now. Now, he could just wait for Chan to wake up and apologize to him.

It hadn’t been an easy decision to make. Hyunjin had heard about it when he was living with Minho’s dad. At first, he thought it was a legend. But quickly, he found people who could prove it to be true. “ _I went to see him last month,_ ” one of the women said. “ _He gave me a small pot with some brownish mixture in it_ ,” she continued. “ _I used it twice and it repaired my broken pots right away_.” It was mostly women who talked about it. It was mostly about broken furniture, sometimes it was about a wound that had trouble healing, once or twice it had been about a psychological wound. It was mostly Minho’s ex-wife who talked about him. “ _I went to see him a few months after Minho left me_ ,” she said while serving some cups of tea. “ _I told him what had happened, and he gave me a recipe_.” It intrigued Hyunjin the most. “ _He said if I used this recipe once every day for a month, my soul would heal from his loss_.” She then put her teapot back on the table. “ _I did it for two months to be sure,_ ” she had a small smile on her face that Hyunjin couldn’t decipher. “ _Every once in a while, I get nostalgic of our wedding day, but never for long. I still miss him, I probably forever will. But I don’t cry myself to sleep anymore_.” Remembering her words was enough for Hyunjin to make his decision.

He wanted to help Minho, and it seemed that this _man_ was the only one able to do so. Chan wasn’t there, it was his last resort. It had been hard to get his address, name, number and everything else. It was even harder to get to see him. It wasn’t as easy as a few centuries ago. Hyunjin didn’t have much information about him. He only heard stories of his remedies. He didn’t even know what he looked like. It’s probably why he had been shocked to discover a man almost two heads smaller than him, barely older than him, who looked like a total human. Sure, his house smelled like a vintage store, had lots of odd plants and looked sort of out of time. But it wasn’t _that_ odd considering Hyunjin was a vampire himself. This is how he met Changbin. The man didn’t tell him right away that he was a warlock. He somehow let mystery plan over his identity. _A human who lived for way too long_ , he always said. Hyunjin actually got to know it through Seungmin. Oh, he got to know so much through that one man.

If Changbin loved to play with secrets and mystery, Seungmin was worse. He was wary of strangers, even more when they asked him for this kind of services. “ _Please, Changbin said you’d help_.” The sole mention of Changbin seemed to change his behaviour completely. Not in the good expected way. He got even warier. “ _Why would Changbin even send you?_ ” Seungmin had yelled through the phone. “ _He never sends anyone to me, so why would he send you? Are you his new boyfriend or what?_ ” Hyunjin couldn’t help the laugh that had escaped him. “ _What’s so funny, huh?_ ” He seemed pissed, too pissed to realize he had said the next words out loud; “ _I should’ve never dated a warlock._ ” And ten minutes later, Seungmin had accepted to meet with Hyunjin. He didn’t know if it was after reassuring him that he wasn’t Changbin’s boyfriend, or if the pleading had actually worked, but he got to meet with Seungmin. It had been one of the scariest experiences of his life.

Seungmin wasn’t tall, nor was he buff—Changbin actually was yet not scary at all. He simply had this intimidating aura that would even make Chan quiver in submission. “ _Just tell me what you expect of me_ ,” were the first words he told Hyunjin once they sat down in some random café terrace. Hyunjin exposed the issue, how Chan had been _captured_ (voluntarily, but that was a detail, right?) by a bunch of old, powerful, vampires. Seungmin took notes. He saw him scribble in an unreadable handwriting. It wasn’t a foreign language. Seungmin just wrote horribly bad. There were arrows going everywhere, words with only one or two letters decipherable. Hyunjin couldn’t help but giggle at how childish his note looked like. Would he add some doodles on the side and it would look like a middle schooler’s notebook. “ _What’s funny?_ ” Seungmin said in a serious tone, contrasting with his notes. Hyunjin then looked up, a yelp leaving his mouth when he saw his eyes entirely black; “ _Wh—_ " It was Seungmin’s turn to laugh. “ _Oh, so, you came to me without knowing what I was?_ ” His sly smile made Hyunjin uncomfortable. “ _You should learn better than to come see a demon without knowing_ ,” he had leaned over the table to whisper in Hyunjin’s ear. Shivers ran down his spine, hands clutched to his knees. _What have I done?_ “ _Don’t worry, I’m not here to make a deal_.” He sat back on his chair. “ _Or maybe I will, do you have anything to offer?_ ” Hyunjin’s puzzled expression must have been the funniest as he laughed loudly enough for the other customers to stare at them. “ _I’m just joking, let’s rescue your friend and never see each other again_.”

Somehow, Changbin was put into the plan. He wasn’t supposed to be there, but Seungmin kept on implying that he’d be the best to heal Chan if he was hurt—and _he probably is_ , he always said. Felix agreed to include Changbin to the plan for Chan’s sake. Seungmin was slightly wary of the three vampires, yet way less of Hyunjin for some reason. Maybe because they had already met? Whatever reason it was, he didn’t care to know.

The plan was simple. Felix will use his bond to find out where Chan was hidden, to catch even the slightest bit of his scent, or any detail that could be helpful. Then, Seungmin will locate Chan. The next part wasn’t accepted by everyone. Breaking into the location, wherever it was, and “ _eliminate every obstacle, human or not,_ ” Seungmin was pretty fixated on that part of the plan. Maybe it was his demon nature to request it, maybe it was simply a personal preference. Still, it wasn’t the vampires’. After hours of debating on that part, they agreed to only use force if needed. Then, once Chan will be rescued, they’d get him home and heal him, or whatever he needed as they didn’t know in what state he was. Changbin’s role was both to heal Chan and to take care of the old crazy man that Chan once called _his leader_. They didn’t really know what he meant by _taking care of_ , yet Hyunjin didn’t question it and agreed to it. That was the plan.

It didn’t quite go that way. Felix did use his bond, simply to get a cry for help. He couldn’t help much with Chan’s location, and Seungmin had to use one of his old clothe to locate him. Finding out it was an abandoned factory made them doubt the accuracy of that location. Still, they went blindly to it. Way too blindly that they arrived in front of a bunch of vampires guarding the place. It was both a confirmation of the location and a delight for Seungmin who took pleasure into beheading the five men right in front of the door. The three vampires stayed frozen in front of the car, not prepared at all for this. It was very disturbing to see one of their own—even if on the opposite side—being killed. Probably because they like to think of themselves as unkillable. And then, there was Changbin, sighing in disapproval as he walked towards the demon, patting his shoulder, “ _Was this really necessary?_ ” to which Seungmin answer by the affirmative. They had agreed on _killing if necessary_ , yet Seungmin found every situation in necessity of killing. There were no survivors in the factory, beside Chan. And the old man. He escaped. Changbin ran after him. No one really knew what he had done, they just saw him coming back, hands covered in some black powder. It didn’t go according to the plan, but the outcome was the same. Chan was rescued. Changbin said he had dealt with the old man, Hyunjin believed him, so everyone did.

All this time, Minho wasn’t really there. Well, he was. He simply wasn’t _fully_ there. A part of him kept on talking to Jisung. Hyunjin used the recipe every day. It wasn’t that hard of a recipe. A few herbs here, a few spices there, put it in a blood bag and Minho ingested it every day. He was supposed to take it for two months. Results were supposed to appear after half a month. It had been a few weeks already, and nothing seemed to be happening. Minho kept on talking to Jisung, even more than before. It was confusing. It was even more worrying.

“ _Can’t you come see it for yourself?_ ” Hyunjin whisper-yelled on the phone. “ _No, I won’t wait half a month. It’s not work—_ ” he stopped talking for a moment, grunting. “ _I’m telling you it’s not working,_ ” he got up from his bed, walking in circled in the middle of his room. “ _Please, Changbin_ ,” he stopped walking for a second, holding his breath as the other was probably talking on the other side of the line. He then walked again, counter-clockwise. “ _What?_ ” He let out a dry chuckle. “ _Are you serious—Changbin, you can’t—_ ” he grunted loudly, not seeing Chan standing at his door. “ _Ok, I’ll go on a date with you. Now, get your ass here and help him_.” He waited a few seconds before hanging up and throwing his phone on his bed, a grunt leaving from his throat.

“ _So, you’re going on a date?_ ” Chan’s voice made him jump. He fell on his bed, it made Chan laugh. “ _Is he supposed to help me? Or Minho?_ ” Chan walked, slowly, to his bed, sitting next to him. Hyunjin stared at him, wondering if he’d panic again if he was honest. “ _Hyunjin, please. Just talk to me. I promise, I’m fine_.”

“ _I just want him to help Minho get better_.”

Changbin did help Minho. Chan also helped Minho. They both did. Who helped the most? Only Minho knew. Only the three of them knew how, or simply what happened.

They were locked in Minho’s room. Hyunjin and Felix were sent in the city—to make sure they weren’t eavesdropping even from the forest.

They kept it secret. The only thing Felix and Hyunjin knew, was that once they came back, Minho was himself again. There was sadness in his eyes, as he probably missed Jisung already, but he was there. He was himself. He was full. He was grieving healthily again.

And then the other part of the deal was done. Hyunjin left with Changbin, on a date. Not that Hyunjin disliked the idea of going on a date with Changbin, he simply felt it odd that he’d asked this as part of a deal.

“ _How was it?_ ” Felix was sitting in the middle of Hyunjin’s bed. Minho was next to him and Hyunjin in front of him.

“ _I don’t have much to say_ ,” Hyunjin was continuously playing with his fingers, holding back a smile.

“ _Oh, please. I know that face. Just tell us_ ,” Minho was a bit blunter about his question. “ _Did you two kiss or what?_ ” Hyunjin instantly blushed, it made the two others giggle like high schoolers.

“ _No! N-No we did not, but I—Well, I don’t know. Maybe there’s something?_ ” He was very unsure of his words. The playful, teasing atmosphere died down in an instant. They were now listening to him closely, enquiring him to voice his thoughts. “ _I never really felt—How can I say? I never liked anyone. I never really felt attracted to anyone_ ,” Hyunjin started, getting more and more unsure of his words as he said them. “ _Not like I really met anyone beside you guys, but even while watching a movie or something? Like, I sometimes talked with you all and—And what you guys feel for other people… I never had that? Usually, I—_ ” He bit his lip for a moment, searching for words. Felix took the opportunity to take his hand in his, a reassuring smile on his face.

“ _Hey, it’s ok. Alright? If you don’t want to talk about it anymore, let’s stop here_ ,” Minho took his other hand in his as he talked. It reassured him. It gave him enough courage to voice his feelings.

“ _I used to hate the idea of love. I still can’t imagine getting any pleasure in… well… bed stuff?_ ” The term made Felix laugh. He apologized right away and held a serious face, clearly holding a few laughs here and there. It gave a lighter mood to the conversation and eased Hyunjin quite a bit. “ _But there’s something with him that—Well, I wouldn’t mind going on other dates_.”

The two other boys cheered loudly, hugging the shy vampire who had just voiced his feelings for the first time. It woke Chan up, who arrived late for the hug party. Still, he forced himself into the group hug, laughter echoing inside of Hyunjin’s room.

Changbin was sitting on his couch, a cup of tea in his hand, staring at the liquid that moved slightly. “ _You could knock like everyone else_ ,” he said without even turning around.

“ _You know it’s me anyway_ ,” Seungmin said as he walked to the couch, sitting next to him. “ _So, how was your date?_ ”

“ _Why? You’re jealous?_ ” The warlock put his cup back on the coffee table, then and finally turning to face Seungmin, staring into his black eyes. “ _Oh, you are._ ” His eyes went back to brown in an instant. “ _You can’t hide the truth from me, Min_.”

“ _Don’t call me that_ ,” he blurted out, flustered.

“ _Why not?_ ” Changbin chuckled, leaning a bit closer to him.

“ _You didn’t answer my question_.” Seungmin leaned back, visibly flustered.

“ _It went well,_ ” he went back to his original position, taking his cup of tea back and taking a sip of it.

“ _You know, you should tell them what you did_.” He leaned back against the couch, sitting more comfortably.

“ _Why should I?_ ”

“ _Because maybe they’d wanna know what happened back there_ ,” he took a journal that was lying around the couch, not really reading it.

“ _Put that down_ ,” Changbin tossed the journal from his hands. “ _I’ll tell them if they ask_.”

“ _Oh, Binnie_.” Seungmin giggled, pushing him lightly on the shoulder. It was still hard enough to make him spill some of his tea.

“ _I’m gonna banish you if you do this again_ ,” he grunted. “ _My new jeans! Seriously?_ ” He got up from his couch, leaving to change his jeans for a clean one. He simply heard Seungmin laughing, knowing he won’t be there when he’ll come back to his living-room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I still don't know if I'll say it explicitly or not, but I decided to make Hyunjin greyromantic and asexual. I am not aroace myself, but I still did my own research as not to say anything wrong or whatever (if I do, please let me know!). I say it here, so that everyone knows and won't misunderstand Hyunjin's words, especially in this chapter and the next ones.


	17. Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan is home. Chan is finally home. Minho couldn't be more happy now that Chan is home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a bit of time, but I finally planned the next chapters and even the ending. I hope the story won't disappoint.
> 
> A/N: This isn't beta-ed

Losing Jisung hadn’t been easy for anyone, especially for Minho. The vampire had been used to the human’s presence, being loved and cared for. Not that Hyunjin and Chan didn’t love him or cared for him, quite the contrary actually. There was just something warm and sweet in having a lover that had made Minho go all soft and fuzzy inside.

No one really was used to _that_ Minho. There was all sort of facets to his personality that even himself didn’t know of. He simply learned who he was over the time. Growing up, he was taught how to be feared, to be the one in charge, the one in power. His family was the most powerful vampire family in the city, if not the country. He was the heir. He needed to be feared and on top of others. Minho had always been the perfect son, obedient, gifted. He was feared, he was powerful. He made his father proud, his entire family proud. Until he decided to focus on himself and what he wanted. Until he realized that this wasn’t who he was, nor the lifestyle he wanted. He wanted to be loved, not feared. So, he rebelled. He was then the family’s disappointment. The most hated vampire in the city. Then, he met Chan. And that was when he found who he was, part of who he was.

Chan was kind. Chan was the perfect son Minho’s father would have dreamed of. There was some natural power emanating from him, that made anyone bow before him. Looking into Chan’s eyes was the same as looking into the Devil’s eyes, or what you could imagine it being like, as Minho never met him personally. You felt beneath him, you felt respect and fear. Until he smiled. Then, everything softened. His aura brightened. He wasn’t abusing his power. He simply was the warmest person Minho got to know. The only thing Chan wanted to do was help other, make everyone happy. Maybe that’s what made Minho follow him.

Whatever underlying reason made Minho follow Chan’s path, he didn’t regret it. Not at all, not a second. The few rumours going around about him and Chan being lovers had tainted their relationship a bit, not in a bad way, though. After kissing him once, Minho felt linked to Chan. He couldn’t leave him. Maybe it was the act in itself, maybe it was how closer it had made them, maybe it was the thought of how intimate they had been to each other… There was simply something in Minho that told him _Chan is the one_. And Chan was indeed the one. The one he’d give his life for. The one he’d kill for. He’d go to the end of the world and even beyond for him. No one could ever compare to him. Still, he wasn’t in love with Chan. That didn’t restrain him from calling Chan his soulmate, to think of him that way.

They knew each other like the back of their hands, as long as you didn’t ask for anything too personal. Minho wasn’t proud of some of his past, so, he understood the need to lie, to hide the truth… he just couldn’t understand why Chan was secretive about so many things. He never got into details about his past, never really said what he did at work, or what he felt… Chan’s emotions were the biggest secret in the world. Minho always wished he could go into Chan’s head, even for a second, so that he could understand him better. Nevertheless, it wasn’t those secrets that would prevent them from being close. They were the closest. And Minho was possessive.

Maybe he simply feared losing Chan, which is why he was so reluctant when Hyunjin was added to their household. A tiny voice in his head kept on repeating that Chan would love him less. That Chan would be less present for him. That Chan would care for Hyunjin more. And, in a way, that did happen. Chan spent more time with Hyunjin, to teach him things, how to feel, how to be _human_. Not that Hyunjin didn’t know how to be human—he actually knew that way better than Minho as he was born vampire and Hyunjin was born human—he simply forgot how to act humanly. Minho’s father wasn’t the best at that, he probably was the worst at acting correctly in society. The only important things for him was hierarchy and power. Chan took time to help Hyunjin with that. He also helped him with his grieving. Minho looked at them from afar, wondering why Chan was so good with that. Why was he gifted like that? Was it because he was older? Because he had been through it? Because he had been human before? Minho always thought he was above vampires that had been humans; in a way, he wasn’t perverted by all those human emotions, those memories of being human, of eating food to stay alive, of sleeping a good night sleep to feel rested on the next day. Minho felt above them because he wasn’t weakened by memories of a past life.

It all changed when he met Jisung. It changed in a way he never ever dreamt of, even his worst nightmare didn’t include this. Jisung taught him love, kindness, humanity. With Jisung, he learned how to care for someone, how to talk to them in a soft voice. He also learned the fear of someone getting hurt. It never occurred to him that people had to be careful not to hurt themselves, not to trip and fall, not to break a bone, not to get an unexpected cut from a piece of paper or a discarded knife. Minho was used to getting hurt and healing in the next minute. So, the first time Jisung got a random cut on his finger, and Minho was forced to see the band-aid around it for a week and a half, it finally hit him that Jisung was human. Jisung wasn’t healing fast. Jisung could get hurt. _Jisung could die_. It was the scariest thing on earth. Sure, he cared for Chan, even for Hyunjin, but he wasn’t scared for their lives. He grew up knowing that vampires were invincible, _unkillable_ and immortal. He didn’t have to be scared for them, for their physical well-being. It was the contrary with Jisung.

The human boy was a mystery for him. Despite life’s challenges, he always found a way to smile, to brighten up the mood. Minho envied him. He envied him the most whenever he watched him cook something in their kitchen and eat it with sparkles in his eyes. _Did it taste this good?_ He actually tried it once. Jisung was eating rice with some kind of sauce and chunks of potatoes and other vegetables in it. It looked tasty. Jisung made it look tasty. So, he sat next to him and nudged him with his elbow; “ _Can I get a bite?_ ” Jisung had laughed, giving him a spoonful of food. Minho grimaced in disgust. It had too many flavours in it, he couldn’t decipher which tasted what. “ _Ew, no. Oh Satan, no_.” Jisung laughed. He laughed so brightly; his head was falling on Minho’s shoulder. The vampire wanted to hear him laugh like this every day of his life.

Another thing that hadn’t occurred to Minho, was aging. Sure, he did age. Sure, vampires did get the effect of time on their faces. He remembered his father’s grey hair, his face full of wrinkles. Still, he didn’t look _that_ old. He himself had some wrinkles on his forehead, one or two white hair hidden at the back of his head. Chan also was victim of time. But Jisung? He saw Jisung lose parts of his hair, get wrinkles around his eyes, his mouth, his forehead. He saw him get more tired with time, his voice getting a bit deeper. His face used to be round and lively, a bit like a child that would dress up as an adult. Overtime, he lost some of his cheeks, his eyes got less and less vivid until they were mature, and his face showed he _was_ an adult. Still, Jisung was Jisung. He would always be Jisung. He still had the same bright tone in his laugh, still fell onto Minho whenever he laughed too hard, still sat on Minho’s lap whenever they watched a movie, still slept with his head buried against Minho’s skin. Jisung’s body was victim of ageing, but Jisung’s personality remained the same, for the most part.

Minho loved Jisung. Minho was in love with Jisung. He was his other half. And losing him, it was losing a part of himself. That part that longed for humanity, for mundane things to a human eye. Minho wished he’d get to experience, one day, a cut staying for too long, a cold ruining your tastebuds, the enjoyment of eating food that wasn’t blood. The only moment Minho felt human, was when he was with Jisung. When he talked with Jisung. When he made love with Jisung. When he looked at Jisung. Jisung was his human part. His human half. Now that he was gone, Minho was a broken vampire. He didn’t long for anything anymore. He wished he was human, so that he could die and be reunited to his other half again. Yet, he didn’t want to leave. Because he still had his family. He still had Chan, who cared for him the most, and Hyunjin, who looked up to him. He fought every day, with his deepest need to die, but his strongest need to stay alive. _Not like he could die anyway_.

But then, Minho lost Chan. He saw him being taken away from him, removed from his house, from his family, ripped away from them. The spot Chan used to occupy was now vacant, and Minho didn’t want anyone else to take it. Because Chan was going to come back. Chan was coming back, and that was a promise he made to himself. And he made sure no one took Chan’s place, until… Until Jisung came back. Jisung was there again. And he was still the sweet Jisung Minho had known.

Minho had two halves. One was Jisung, whom he had lost years ago, the other one was Chan, whom had just been taken away. He felt empty. He _was_ empty. So, when Jisung came back to him, it was relieving. Still, he knew it was an illusion. How? Because Jisung was young. He had fat round cheeks and sparkly eyes. But the Jisung he last knew of wasn’t young. It wasn’t possible for him to _be there_ and to _look like that_. That’s how Minho knew it was all an illusion. That, in addition to being the only one seeing him. Still, he let himself drown into it. He needed it. He needed that illusion, or he wouldn’t have it, right? It was simply his self-preservation instinct that gave him one of his halves. He couldn’t have Chan anymore, so, he found a way to have Jisung. He wasn’t going to throw it away.

Living with Jisung again was weird. It was weirder now that it was Hyunjin and Felix, instead of Hyunjin and Chan. There was a part of Chan in Felix, but he wasn’t him. He’d never be him, despite all of his efforts to take his place, even for a temporary time. They fought a lot, Felix and him. Maybe it was because Minho wasn’t ready to share Chan with someone yet, because he was jealous of how Felix gained Chan’s confidence easier than him, or was it a mix of it all?

Chan was full of affection. He was ready to help the entire world if needed. Still, Minho wanted to stay as his favourite. Was he even his favourite? Wasn’t him and Hyunjin equal in his heart? No, they were not. They could simply not. Minho had been with Chan for so long, shared so much with him, of course he was even just a tiny bit above Hyunjin in Chan’s heart. But then. Then, Felix arrived, and suddenly Felix was first in Chan’s heart. Minho knew that. He knew that he had been replaced. Chan had a new favourite. That was it. The end of Minho being Chan’s soulmate, because it was now Felix.

“ _Nothing changed between us_ ,” Chan always told him, whenever he felt that Minho was being insecure again. It eased him for a moment, usually not long enough to last multiple days. Then, they got the explanation. Felix was Chan’s Jisung. His other half. Minho wasn’t jealous anymore. Well, not as much. Because now, he understood. He understood how it was possible for Felix to be Chan’s favourite without Minho losing his previous rank. And it all made sense, until they learned that Chan was the one who turned Felix.

Despite losing the hierarchy that had been there for centuries, Minho couldn’t forget the underlying link between Chan and Felix. He couldn’t forget all that, but he tried. He tried so hard. He didn’t even have time to get used to it that Chan was ripped off of him. Chan was gone. But now, Jisung was back. And Jisung met Felix. Felix never met Jisung, though.

The first few days, Minho was scared of Jisung. He knew he wasn’t really there; he didn’t know when he was going to appear, what he was going to do… It was frightening. There was also the hidden fear of _is he a ghost_ , _is it a projection from his head_ , did Jisung say things he wanted to say, or things Minho wanted him to say?

It took him about five days to get accustomed to it. As soon as he did, he forgot that Jisung wasn’t supposed to be there. Jisung was fun. Jisung was a bubbly bubble of joy. He made Minho laugh. He made Minho’s life easier. It was easier to deal with Chan’s loss. At night, very late at night, Minho kept on wondering if Jisung will leave by himself once Chan comes back, or if he’ll have to say goodbye. Sometimes, he wished Jisung would stay forever, that Jisung was a ghost and not a part of Minho’s imagination. He wanted Jisung to be a ghost, because that made him more real than any alternative.

“ _I think Hyunjin woke up on the wrong foot this morning_ ,” Jisung whispered in his ear. Minho arched an eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that. “ _He keeps on grumbling_ ,” Jisung explained, moving his head in Hyunjin’s direction. Minho turned his head to the side, watching as Hyunjin was putting cups in the sink while talking to himself. He would have laughed, if he wasn’t worried. He was deeply worried.

“ _Wait here_ ,” he told Jisung, a hand lifted halfway in the air to gesture him not to move. He got up from the couch, walking all the way to the kitchen. He stopped next to Hyunjin, looking at the five cups in the sink, all of them stained with coffee, all of them used by Minho himself. “ _Is everything ok?_ ” Hyunjin jumped at that. He was seemingly way too lost in his train of thoughts that he didn’t hear Minho coming.

“ _How many coffees did you drink in each of these?_ ” He didn’t even look at him. His eyes were too focused on the cups.

“ _How many? Mm_ ,” he pointed at the pink one. “ _Three in this one_.” He then pointed at the blue cup with yellow lettering on it, “ _Five in that one_.” And he kept on saying a few numbers while pointing at the other cups. He didn’t even know if it was the right count. It was approximatively correct, because Minho almost always lost count after the third cup.

“ _Is everything ok, Minho?_ ” He finally looked at him, and there were tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Minho hummed, nodding along. He even forced a smile to convince Hyunjin. “ _Is Jisung there?_ ” Minho’s smiled flattered for a second. He forced it back. “ _So, he is_ ,” Hyunjin knew him too well.

“ _But are you ok, though?_ ” Minho placed his hand on his arm, looking into his eyes for sign of an answer.

“ _I’m tired. I’m exhausted, I’m just… I’m worried for him_.”

Chan. It always came back to Chan.

Jisung had good ideas, to save Chan. Maybe they were in fact Minho’s ideas. It was still great ideas, even in Changbin and Seungmin’s eyes. Those two… Minho was wary of them. Part of his education was to only trust your own kind, but Chan’s way of living was the exact opposite of that rule. He wanted to trust them; they were willing to help them, after all. He still couldn’t do that, especially not with the way Changbin was always eyeing him before whispering things in Hyunjin’s ears. He was usually too tired to listen to what he was saying, but from time to time he did focus hard enough to listen to them. “ _It’s more serious than I thought_ ,” Changbin once said. Minho knew. He knew they were talking about Jisung. He knew, still, he fainted ignorance and turned his head, looking at his boyfriend’s bright smile that was directed to no one but him. He was happy. Not as happy as he’d be if Chan was also there, but happy, because he finally had his lover back.

There were other times when Changbin whispered things in Hyunjin’s ears that had nothing to do with Minho. That didn’t prevent him from not listening. Hyunjin was his brother, he needed to protect him. He didn’t trust Changbin, Seungmin even less but he was barely there, even if Hyunjin was the one who reached to him, he still couldn’t trust them. Not when he heard Changbin whispering to Hyunjin how _handsome he was_. Hyunjin’s face was unreadable. It was both disinterest and awkwardness. A tiny bit of joy too, as he always fought a smile to come up on his face. But then, it’d almost always be the same answer; “ _It’s not the time, can’t you focus?_ ” There was clearly something going on between them, Minho was dying to know, yet it felt like the wrong time for that.

Minho wasn’t an idiot, he knew that Hyunjin always put something in his blood bags. Firstly, because he was somehow forbidden to take his own blood bags, secondly, because it tasted different. Barely, but it wasn’t a 100% blood. He would’ve been worried if it was anyone else than Hyunjin. He’d think it was poison. But Hyunjin wouldn’t do him any harm, right? It didn’t have any effect on him, whatever was put in his food. He was still as healthy as before. So, he shrugged it off and let Hyunjin put things in his food, probably thinking he didn’t know. But then, it started to have an effect. One Minho wished was a pure coincidence.

He woke up one day, turning on his side while lifting his arm to put it over Jisung’s waist. He didn’t want to get up today, he just wanted to snuggle in bed with his boyfriend. Which he did. He tried, actually. His arm fell flat on the mattress. Jisung wasn’t lying down next to him. Minho’s breath hitched in his throat as he opened his eyes, sight welcomed with emptiness. Wondering if Jisung was just waiting for him elsewhere, he got out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. He wasn’t there, with a cup of coffee ready for him. He wasn’t in the living-room either. Minho was about to ask Felix if he had seen Jisung, when he realized that he couldn’t see him anyway. Minho resorted into going to every single room, sometimes calling his name. Of course, no one answered. Of course, Jisung wouldn’t magically appear in a room –or maybe he will, that’s what he does anyway, right? But Minho wasn’t thinking straight. Jisung wasn’t there. He was alone today. He hadn’t been alone in so long, it made him anxious. Too anxious. He couldn’t do anything today. He simply sat in the middle of his bed, cross-legged, rocking back and forth while talking to himself. He tried his best to make Jisung appear. Maybe, if he talked to him, he’d eventually appear?

He came back late at night. He hugged Minho with so much softness, the older boy fell into tears right away. He was a sobbing mess, head pressed against Jisung’s chest. “ _Where were you?_ ” he kept on repeating. “ _With my parents_ ,” Jisung simply answered, leaving a soft kiss on the top of Minho’s head. It made sense. While Jisung was with Minho, he was his and simply his, but as soon as he disappeared to Minho, he reappeared in the dead’s world, with his dead parents, his dead family. Because Jisung was dead.

Selfishly, Minho fought hard to make sure Jisung would never disappear again. He needed him. If Jisung left too, Minho probably won’t survive this.

Getting Chan back wouldn’t be classified as an easy task. The state Chan was in was painful to watch. Really painful. There was probably nothing more painful for the three vampires but to see the one they looked up to being beaten so much he couldn’t even heal anymore.

Minho started to trust Changbin and Seungmin after they healed Chan. Seeing him able to move, after being paralysed for weeks, it was a miracle. And they did that? Minho was beyond grateful. He wasn’t alone to cheer about Chan’s recovery.

Lying down on his bed, hands intertwined with Jisung, he kept on telling how glad he was that Chan was back, that he was _healthy_ , healing slowly. Everything was back to normal. The four vampires were now back under the same roof… and Jisung was still there. Minho should have been worried about it, but never would he wish for his lover to leave again.

Everything wasn’t going smoothly between Chan and Felix. Minho, who was always home, was in front row to witness it. Felix took on his time to take care of Chan. To force him to eat, to help him walk, even to bathe him as Minho heard from the bathroom’s door. The first few days, Chan kept on laughing how cute Felix was. They were happy to have each other back. Felix was Chan’s anchor. He was what kept him from going nuts and breaking down. Minho knew that. He understood that. Because he knew that in his place, not having Jisung would probably have make him break down in two days. But Chan, he stayed strong for more than two weeks. He was strong. He had something to look up to. He had his family waiting for him and he knew that.

“ _Why are you always babying me like that?_ ” Chan growled, annoyed as Felix was tucking him to bed.

“ _I’m not?_ ”

“ _Yes, you are? You’re literally tucking me to bed, you know I don’t need to?_ ” He pushed the duvet on the side.

“ _You don’t need…to be tucked?_ ” Felix stopped moving his hands, staring at his boyfriend with big round eyes. “ _But you always tuck yours—_ ”

“ _I don’t need_ help _for that, that’s what I mean!_ ” He groaned, annoyed. “ _Why are you doing this? Are you trying to piss me off?_ ” He then moved the duvet back to where Felix had previously put it but doing it on his own this time.

“ _No, I’m—I’m just taking care of you?_ ” His voice was quivering, dying at the end of his sentence.

“ _But why!_ ”

“ _You always take care of me, isn’t it time for me to do the same?_ ”

“ _I’m your dad, you’re my son! I’m the one supposed to take care of you! Not the other way around, Felix!_ ” Chan didn’t realize what he had just said until Felix pointed it out, eyes red and ready to get teary.

“ _I thought there was no more dad and son, between us. You said there was none!_ ” He bit his lip hard, not really knowing if he should look at Chan in the eyes or somewhere else.

That night, Felix slept on the couch, a few sobs escaping him.

They somehow managed to go beyond that fight, everything going back to normal after a few days. Minho and Hyunjin were relieved at that.

Something seemed more important in everyone’s head. Minho still talking to Jisung seemed to be top priority in everyone’s head. Minho even overheard Chan and Hyunjin talking about it. He heard them say how worried they were, and how _Changbin will come to help_. He didn’t know what that meant but seeing how efficient he had been with Chan’s case; Minho was worried he’d have to say goodbye to Jisung for good. So, he did.

When he heard Changbin entering the forest, he closed his eyes and took Jisung’s hands in his. He held them tightly; “ _You might need to go back to your family now_ ,” he whispered, trying not to cry.

“ _But I’m happy with you_ ,” Jisung said, his voice was steady, happy.

“ _I’m happy with you too, but I think it’s time for you to go_.” A stray tear ran down his cheek.

Hyunjin and Felix left. He heard them leave. Then, Changbin and Chan knocked on his bedroom’s door. He let go of Jisung’s hands, drying the few tears that had escaped and, with his steadiest voice, he told them to come in.

“ _Hey, buddy_.” Changbin feigned sympathy and closeness, walking towards his bed, a handbag probably too heavy for a human in his hand. “ _Can I sit there?_ ” He pointed the bed, Minho nodded, and he sat at the edge of it. Chan followed, sitting closer to Minho.

They were smooth and soft with him. They explained the situation as if he wasn’t already aware of it, which Minho would’ve found sweet if he wasn’t heartbroken already.

“ _We’re just worried for you, Minho_ ,” Chan said.

“ _You know, he isn’t really there_ ,” Changbin continued. Minho wanted to say that he knew, yet he remained silent, looking at each one of them as they spoke.

“ _And I’m back now,_ ” Chan’s words hit Minho right in the soul. Some kind of realisation hitting him. Jisung appeared so that he’ll manage Chan’s loss. But Chan was back. He _technically_ didn’t need Jisung anymore. Still, Jisung was there. And he wanted him to stay there. He couldn’t ask Jisung to leave, could he?

Everything happened fast, but not fast enough for Minho. It was all too blurry in his head for him to register what really happened. Jisung was standing there, next to the bed. Chan was sitting on the opposite side of him. And Changbin, he was in front of him, but he wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at Jisung. He was staring at him as he listened to Changbin talking. He wasn’t even talking to him. He was giving instructions to Chan. Chan who took his hand in his. Chan who dug his long nails inside of Minho’s wrist. Chan who kept on apologizing whenever Minho’s face was distorting with pain. But he was too preoccupied with Jisung’s figure to register what was happening, or what pain was. Jisung was staring back at him. He was waving goodbye, and Minho wanted to cry. He cried. He screamed, even. “ _Don’t leave me again!_ ” He reached his free arm towards his boyfriend, who took it. Only for an instant, as his arm was slowly disappearing. Only then did he register the horrendous pain that was inflaming his entire arm. Chan was still holding it, whispering words to him that he didn’t want to listen to. He eventually did. “ _I’m here for you, Minho. I’m not leaving anywhere_ ,” he was saying the words Jisung should be saying. Chan was saying all the words he wished to hear from Jisung’s mouth. He frantically shook his head, tears spilling from his eyes even more. “ _I don’t want to_ ,” he said. “ _I don’t want to do this!_ ” He was now screaming at the top of his lung. Jisung took his hand, holding it tight, their fingers intertwining. Minho was hopeful again. “ _Oh no, that’s no good_ ,” he heard from Changbin’s voice. Chan’s free hand went to his cheek, pulling his face towards him. “ _Minho look at me_ ,” he repeated as he tried to pull him again and again. But Minho fought, he fought as hard as he could not to look anywhere else but into Jisung’s eyes. Yet, somehow, after Changbin blabbered a few words Minho didn’t listen to, Chan was able to turn his face towards him. He met his eyes. He cried harder. He felt Jisung’s hand disappearing the longer he looked into Chan’s eyes.

Minho cried himself to sleep. Chan stayed by his side, still holding his hand, caressing his wounded arm hoping it’d heal fast enough for the other two vampires not to see it. He looked as Changbin put his things back in his bag, looking into a random mirror Minho had in his room to style his hair once again. “ _So, you’re really going on a date with Hyunjin?_ ” Chan said, not too loud as not to wake Minho up. Changbin hummed in agreement. “ _Don’t you dare hurt him, or I’ll personally come to kill you_.” Usually, Changbin would have laughed, but Chan’s tone made him choke on his own saliva, bowing respectfully.

“ _I’d never hurt him_ ,” he said before getting back up. They both stared into each other’s eyes, both showing the sincerity in their words.

As soon as Hyunjin came home, Changbin circled his arm and pulled him outside. The taller boy yelped in surprise, yet not fighting back. He followed him, not daring to ask questions about Minho—he was dying to know if it had been a success, but if it wasn’t, Changbin wouldn’t be taking him on a date, right? It was the deal, to heal Minho and then have a date. So, it meant it was successful? Hyunjin held tight on that thought.

He sat in Changbin’s car; hands clutched to his knees.

“ _You’re nervous?_ ” Changbin chuckled, himself extremely nervous.

“ _I’ve never been on a date before_ ,” he shamefully confessed.

A simple _oh_ of realisation left Changbin’s mouth. He didn’t want to intrude the other’s personal life, nor to assume things, but with his looks, Changbin would have bet Hyunjin had been on a thousand of dates, or at least a dozen. So, the fact that it was actually his first? It made Changbin shiver in excitement.

The date went smoothly. Smoothly enough for Changbin to dare ask for a second one. Hyunjin agreed without even thinking about it. There was something with Changbin that made him at ease. He wasn’t thinking much about it, he just embraced the foreign feeling in his stomach.

“ _Is there anywhere you want to go?_ ” The warlock asked carefully, his bottom lip trapped between his teeth as he stared at Hyunjin’s hand, so close to his yet so far.

“ _Can we go to a museum?_ ” There was joy in his voice. “ _I’ve never been to one_ , _as far as I can remember_ ,” he explained himself.

“ _Well, let’s go then_.” The smaller boy smiled as brightly as he could.

They went to a castle. It had been rehabilitated as a museum. Hyunjin was ecstatic to see it, probably because the castle was from Minho’s era.

They went to a few rooms, walking next to each other. It was their fourth date. Changbin was a bit impatient, yet he knew Hyunjin wasn’t that experienced, or comfortable with relationships, so, he didn’t force it. He stayed next to him, looking at a painting. Well, Hyunjin was looking at every detail in the painting, while Changbin was looking at him. He could probably not tell if there were people or flowers on that art. He could, however, tell that Hyunjin had stars in his eyes as he looked at it. “ _People are waiting, we should move_ ,” he whisper after acknowledging the old couple behind them. Hyunjin nodded, taking Changbin’s hand in his as he went to the next painting. He didn’t even do it on purpose. He just felt like it, his body had moved without him knowing it. Changbin was beaming.

They intertwined their fingers, hands locked like this for the entirety of the day. He had waited so long for this physical contact to happen, that Changbin wasn’t going to let it go—unless Hyunjin wanted to, of course. The other didn’t seem to want to leave his hand either.

Around two hours later, they left the castle, walking aimlessly in the streets, hands still locked together.

“ _Do you want to eat something?_ ” The vampire asked, looking around for a café of some sort.

“ _Good idea, I know a place_.” He then took a few turns before stopping in front of a cottage-like café.

“ _How did you meet Seungmin?_ ” It was an unexpected question that took Changbin off guard.

“ _Do you really want to talk about this…now?_ ” He bit his lip, looking away from Hyunjin’s eyes.

“ _I’m sorry, the question just—I’m just curious and—I wanted to know but didn’t know how to ask_.”

“ _No, no, please! Don’t apologize, it’s fine_.” The warlock sat back correctly on his couch, tidying his shirt as he tried to keep down the blush on his cheeks.

“ _I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer me I—_ ” He got cut short by Changbin’s finger pressed on his lips. They both smiled, the vampire nodding his head.

“ _He came to me one day, for a spell_.” He finally got up from the couch, walking to his kitchen. Hiding in another room, with the excuse of making tea, working perfectly as he tried to regain composure. Hyunjin had finally accepted to have a laid-back date, to come to Changbin’s place, and they had been so close to share their first kiss… he wasn’t expecting Hyunjin’s possible anxiousness to come out in that question. Still, the boy seemed to be eager to know, so, who was Changbin to deny him a few stories?

“ _How did he know you were a warlock?_ ” Hyunjin was still on the couch, his upper body half turned towards the kitchen to look at him. He could feel his eyes on his back.

“ _Well, to be fair, I’m a wizard_.”

“ _You’re a wh—wait. Because it’s different?_ ”

“ _Well, a bit?_ ” He giggled, staring at his teapot for a moment before going back to the living-room. “ _My mom’s a witch, and my dad’s a wizard. Which… makes me a wizard, inherently._ ” He put a teacup in front of Hyunjin, another one beside it. He then left again to put his tray back in the kitchen. “ _I was born with magic into my fingers, my mom gave me recipes to use plants and other things and make them magic. Well, to use their properties._ ” When he sat back on the couch, Hyunjin was staring at him like a child hearing a fairy tale. It made him laugh.

“ _What? What’s so funny?_ ” The vampire was a bit offended, yet mostly clueless.

“ _You’re just adorable_ ,” he caressed his cheek, eyes soft as he looked at him. “ _Where was I? Ah, yes. Well, I cast spells, make magic recipe… Sometimes I can make magic out of thin air_ ,” he rubbed the tip of his index finger, middle finger and his thumb together, some tiny sparkly dust coming out of it. Hyunjin’s mouth fell into an ‘o’ shape. “ _Somehow, Seungmin found me and asked for a spell. It wasn’t uncommon for other creatures to come to me, so, I gave him what he paid for. But then…_ ” He let out a dry chuckle, eyes closing for a mere second as memory flood back into his head. “ _He kept on joking, calling me a warlock_.”

“ _But what’s the difference?_ ”

“ _Warlocks are supposedly bad. They turned their back on the community, use their magic for… unfaithful reasons. They’re… outcasts in a way?_ ” His voice rose a bit, unsure of how to explain it. It was more of a feeling than anything. “ _He joked about it, because I helped demons without knowing what they’d do with it. But then, it became some sort of inside joke_ ,” he fought the smile off of his face. “ _When we started to date, he’d still call me a warlock, but_ his _warlock. I started to forget of the bad connotation this word has, even if in a way, I’m truly one_.”

Hyunjin stared into Changbin’s eyes, leaning a bit towards him, a hand on his. “ _You’re not a bad guy, Changbin_.” He wasn’t expecting their first kiss to happen this way. But it did. Hyunjin leaned a bit closer to him, lips pressed against his for a mere second. As soon as he felt cold air against him again, he grabbed Hyunjin’s neck, pulling him towards him again, closing his eyes as their lips moved against each other.

Hyunjin left not long after. Changbin suggested to drive him home, yet the vampire declined the offer, stating that him and the three others were eating in a restaurant not far away. Changbin hummed, watching him go and disappear in a small crowd in the street.

As soon as he was alone in his house again, Changbin felt a shiver down his spine. “ _Why are you always doing this?_ ” He growled, turning towards his living-room where Seungmin was, sitting on his couch as if it was his home.

“ _Because it’s fun_ ,” he took a discarded cup of tea without even sparing a glance at the host. “ _So, is he even a good kisser?_ ”

Changbin walked behind the couch, his hand ending flat against the back of Seungmin’s head, pushing him forward as he was about to drink. The demon cursed, tea all over his T-shirt. The warlock laughed. “ _You’re really jealous, how cute that is_.”

“ _I’m just curious. And, you know, I just thought you’d tell him the truth now that you got this close_ ,” he had a snarky smile on his face. “ _I guess even a kiss isn’t good enough for you to be honest? Aren’t you ashamed?_ ” Changbin leaned over the couch, his hand underneath Seungmin’s chin, his fingers pressing on both side of his face, forcing him to pucker his lips.

“ _It’s not because you’re Satan’s son, or my ex, or a, quote unquote, retired hitman, that I won’t cast you out_.” He then let go of his face, taking the cup of tea out of his hand. Seungmin simply laughed at the threat.

When Chan’s family had raided the old factory, the old vampire ran away. He tried to run away as fast as he could, but still, there was someone tailing him. He took a few turns in the maze the factory was, to no avail as the man was always and still behind him. Until he felt something hitting his back in a loud thud. It pushed him forward, almost falling flat on his face. He didn’t fall. He kept running, opening the door to the outside wide. The man wasn’t behind him. He stopped for a moment, taking deep inhale of breath before running again, leaving to his hideout.

There was an appalling pain going from the middle of his back, down to his knees. Still, he didn’t let it interfere with his plan. He had all the information he could retrieve from Christopher; he wasn’t going to give up now. Even if he had ended up useless, in the end. Christopher didn’t know the information he was seeking for.

There was this old tale going around. It was never really taken seriously, yet never refuted either. He held onto it as true. The tale, maybe more of a legend, said that the Devil could be summoned. He could be trapped in a magic circle. The tale then detailed how the Devil had a weakness. That there was this one spot behind his ear, that if hit correctly with the tip of a Holy Sword, could kill him in an instant. And then, was the part that interested the vampire the most. The one who was said to kill the Devil, would become the next Devil in line.

The old vampire had been through so much but had finally managed to get his hands on Durandal, one of the four Holy Sword. He had to go all the way to France, climb the wall of a mountain and retrieve the sword that had been embedded there for centuries. And after torturing his oh so sweet Christopher for weeks, he was finally there, drawing circles and other symbols on his floor, shaking in impatience for what was about to happen.

The black drawing suddenly glowed red as he recited the Latin words that were hastily written on a piece of paper. Air got cold in the room, the wood shutters slamming against the wall and the windows. A whirl of dust appeared around the circle, the vampire took a step back, face beaming with excitement.

“ _Are you insane?_ ” The voice echoed around the room. He still couldn’t see him, dust going up to the ceiling. The vampire waited until a few of the dust disappeared. As soon as he saw his skin, he threw the sword, already claiming victory when he heard a grunt coming from his opponent, taking a step into the circle. “ _Oh, so, you_ are _insane_.” The last thing he heard was a laugh.


	18. Back to normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Chan is back, everything's back to normal. Because everything is normal. And what's more normal than normal? Unless it became less normal than what normal usually was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: there is a short smut scene in this chapter. If you feel uncomfortable reading it, and as it isn't that important to understand the chapter, I put some ' ** ' at the beginning and end of the scene, so that you can skip it.

It had been weeks since the house had been that full. Somehow, Felix had become used to the quietness of an empty house. Not that it was loud, now. It was just… not quiet. It used to have this sad atmosphere floating everywhere, in every room, filled with worry and anxiousness. Now that Chan was back, the worry and anxiousness had disappeared. Was it a good thing? Something still felt off. Felix tried to ignore it.

He really tried to ignore it as much as he could, focusing on the fact that his life was now back to normal. Everything was _back to normal_ —whatever normal had been in the past. Chan was always there, next to him, Minho was also home and not talking to himself, Hyunjin was… Hyunjin wasn’t normal. Hyunjin was something else. Hyunjin was in love for the first time of his life. But still, everything was _normal_.

Felix woke up every morning, getting out of bed and drinking a blood bag before going to work. He was still working in that same convenience store, memories of his first meeting with Chan making him chuckle on his own. As he wasn’t a student anymore, it was harder to see his friends. So, they usually came to the store and hung out with him there. His boss wasn’t too happy to have so much people in his store not buying anything, Felix would always force them to _at least_ buy a drink, or a bag of chips. There were times his friends suggested to go eat somewhere in the city, or to just hang out outside of his workplace. At first, Felix agreed. He ended his shift around noon and went with his friends to a nearby restaurant. Eating real food felt foreign to his tongue but pleasant to his memories. He beamed in joy as he laughed along with his friends, worry quickly evaporating from his head.

“ _You were gone for a month, your boss said you were sick. Feeling better?_ ” one of his friends suddenly asked, putting french-fries in his mouth.

“ _Oh, yeah_ ,” Felix faked a smile, not knowing how to tell them he was gone because his boyfriend had been kidnapped. “ _A bad flu but that’s fine. I’m way better now_.”

“ _Now that you live with your boyfriend, can’t we hang out at your place?_ ” another one of his friends asked, nudging him with his shoulder.

Felix chuckled awkwardly. “ _I’m not sure it’s a good idea,_ ” he tried to find an excuse. His friends all groaned in disapproval yet respected his choice and dropped the topic.

There were always small topics that would bring all the worry back in Felix’s head, still, the few times he hung out with his human friends, Felix felt free and happy. Until he got home.

Until he entered his home and found a dishevelled Hyunjin, explaining how Chan was worried for him not being back yet, or that Minho was on his twentieth coffee and didn’t know what to do, sometimes even seeking love advice from him. As soon as he was home, Felix wasn’t free anymore. He was prisoner of his vampire role. And it was tiring. He needed to ignore it. Everything was back to normal.

If Felix was honest, he’d say that Chan was becoming hard to handle. He _was_ hard to handle. Maybe he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but he was. And Felix refused to see it until it was too late.

At first, Chan was just a ball of trauma. He had just been rescued and needed care. Felix gave it to him. He knew his boyfriend was trying to hide his pain and weakness, because that’s simply who he is, so, he acted like everything was normal and he could just _go on_ with his life. Felix knew that was false, not when he couldn’t even walk without assistance. Which is why he took a day of. Only one, so that he’ll stay next to Chan and make sure he was healing correctly. Which he was. His physical wounds healed at once. But that wasn’t it. His psychological wounds, they were still there, and freshly, wide opened. Chan wasn’t doing fine. No, he was doing terrible, mentally. Chan didn’t sleep at night, he didn’t even blink, too scared to feel trapped again. There were even times his body wouldn’t respond anymore like he was paralysed again. Felix was worried. He tried everything he could, until he realized nothing was working.

Felix was not therapist. He could listen to Chan’s worries—when he accepted to talk about them—but he wasn’t qualified enough to help him heal. He wasn’t even sure he’d be able to, as he never experienced anything similar to this—he also didn’t wish to.

Still, most of the time, the issue was that Chan refused to accept the fact that he _needed_ help. Felix was ready to offer all the help he could provide, as long as Chan wanted it.

“ _Can’t you just stop babying me?_ ”

“ _I didn’t do anything,_ ” Felix argued, voice unsure.

“ _You’re literally trying to feed me, I’m not a child I can eat by myself_.”

“ _Then eat!_ ” His voice rose a bit, he regretted it as soon as it escaped his mouth.

It always started like this, their fights. Felix was, according to Chan, always doing too much. The younger thought he wasn’t doing enough, yet the other thought he was doing too much. It clashed. They couldn’t agree anymore, on anything. And the few times they did, something always happened that made them argue.

The young vampire understood that his boyfriend sometimes needed to focus on one thing at a time not to get overwhelmed, he just couldn’t understand why he always focused on the _wrong_ thing.

**

Both lying on their shared bed, clothes dropped on the floor, Felix drown himself in Chan’s touch. He nuzzled his face in his neck, eyes closed as Chan was two fingers inside him, his other hand caressing his back softly. He tried to hold his moans as quiet as possible, so that none of the other vampires in the house could hear them. Chan was breathing heavily against his ear; it drove him crazy. He moved his hips back and forth on the older’s fingers, needing more every time.

“ _Enough?_ ” Chan asked with a shaky voice. The younger didn’t trust himself to speak, so he simply hummed and nodded, straightened himself up, eyes lidded with lust as he moved to lie down on his back, Chan positioning himself between his legs. Felix quickly put both of his legs around Chan’s hips, pulling him forward just a bit. He was impatient. He always was when it came to Chan.

The older leaned down a bit, lips barely against Felix’s as he entered him. He drank the long raspy moan that escaped his boyfriend’s mouth, a smile appearing on his face. Felix was slowly going nuts with pleasure, yet he was still aware enough to see Chan’s smile flatten in seconds, lingering thoughts evident in his eyes. He ignored it and focused on the warmth of getting filled by his boyfriend.

He could have enjoyed it, if Chan hadn’t been absent most of the time. He wouldn’t have said anything, if every time Chan quickened his pace, he wouldn't suddenly stop to take a quick look at the bedroom door. It happened once, twice, thrice… The fourth time was enough for Felix.

“ _Ok, what’s wrong?_ ” He suddenly said, hands leaving the bedsheets to hold Chan’s hips steady.

“ _No-Nothing, why?_ ”

“ _No, stop_ ,” he ordered when his boyfriend tried to move his hips again.

“ _Why?_ ” Chan was visibly too confused for someone who did wrong.

“ _What’s wrong with the door?_ ” Felix asked, moving a bit so that Chan wasn’t inside of him anymore.

Chan hesitated a moment, until he finally said; “ _Did we lock it?_ ”

Annoyed, Felix groaned and got up from the bed, checking the door’s lock before going back to the bed. “ _Yes, it’s locked. Is everything ok now?_ ” When Chan nodded, he went back to his previous position, both hands on his boyfriend’s face as he pulled him forward to kiss his mouth.

It wasn’t ok, though. Chan penetrated him again, kissing his neck, his cheek, his mouth, his collarbones… but every once in a while, he’d slower his pace and lose focus, he’d look at the door for a few seconds before getting back to Felix. This time, it was enough. Really, really enough.

**

“ _You’re kidding me, right?_ ”

“ _But what if it’s unlocked? What if they walk in?_ ”

“ _Then too bad for them, I guess?_ ” Felix was beyond pissed. He got up from the bed, putting his pants back on and left the room. He locked himself in the bathroom, not able to understand why Chan could focus more on their bedroom door than him in such a situation.

It didn’t happen all the time, just enough times for Felix to understand there was something really wrong with Chan, that required way more than simple attention as he was able to give.

One of the things that changed the most when Chan was gone, is the relationship between Felix and Hyunjin. Unexpectedly, they grew closer. Probably because Minho wasn’t himself at that time, and they both needed reassurance only them could give to each other.

Hyunjin went to Felix when Minho started talking to his dead boyfriend. He didn’t really know what to do, nor what to say, they just found comfort in talking and being listened to. Hyunjin found a friend in Felix, despite their former rivalry. It was easier to talk to each other. They even found themselves cuddling at night when they were both feeling too lonely to dive in the arms of Morpheus.

“ _How’s it going with Changbin?_ ” Felix asked, sitting on the couch next to Hyunjin, his leg instantly going over Hyunjin’s.

“ _Well, he wants to go on another date tomorrow_ ,” his voice was still a bit shy.

“ _Is he a good kisser?_ ” Felix only earned a laugh and being pushed from the shoulders.

“ _Shut up,_ ” Hyunjin whisper-yelled, which only made Felix laugh harder.

“ _If you accepted the next date, I guess he is_.” They both laughed along, Hyunjin then turning the TV on.

It was always cosy and warm with Hyunjin. There was no hassle with Hyunjin. Felix enjoyed spending time with Hyunjin as much as with his human friends. He just wished they had grown closer in another circumstance.

Hyunjin was sitting on Changbin’s couch, a huge book opened in front of him. The words inside seemed handwritten, with beautiful calligraphy he could only assumed were from the eighteenth century, at least.  
“ _But, does that mean you’re immortal?_ ” He asked, curious of what Changbin really was. The book related stories about witches and wizards, their lives and important figures.

“ _Not really,_ ” the warlock sat next to him, two cups of tea in hands. Hyunjin took one. “ _I can use plants and spells to live longer, but I’ll still age like most humans. I can’t heal by myself,_ ” he explained with a soft voice. Hyunjin was drinking his words.

“ _What about Seungmin?_ ” The question took the warlock off-guard.

“ _What about him?_ ” He had an uneasy smile on his face, eyes unfocused.

“ _Are demons immortal?_ ”

Changbin closed the book in front of them, putting his cup of tea next to it. He then turned to face Hyunjin, one of his hand resting on the vampire’s knee. “ _Demons are spawn of Satan, creatures of darkness. They either are sinful, corrupted, evil dead humans trapped in Hell and bound to obedience to Satan, or simply… I don’t even know. Satan’s sons, literally? Rising from thin air, straight in Hell, pure evil and darkness of the soul,_ ” the warlock had sparkles in his eyes. “ _Legends say that demons are born from part of Satan’s body, that they’re smaller parts of him, kind of mini Satans running free._ ”

“ _But—Wait, which kind is Seungmin then?_ ” There was worry in Hyunjin’s voice.

“ _Oh, well, Seungmin’s one true demon. He was born from nothing but Satan’s darkness._ ” It didn’t reassure the vampire at all.

“ _What’s their purpose? Why would Satan need demons if he already has vampires on earth?_ ”

“ _Oh, well… Nothing much. They don’t do much in Hell, from what Seungmin told me. Maybe he lied, though, his opinion is sort of pretty biased._ ” He turned back to his original place, taking a sip of his tea.

“ _Why is he there, if they’re all in Hell?_ ” The vampire’s curiosity was insatiable.

“ _He isn’t the only one. It happened in mass at a time. Some demons were pretty unhappy with their deadly father’s way of ruling Hell, so, they all rioted. They were casted on earth, as a punition. Most of them were pretty happy with that, others begged for pardon. Seungmin, well… He left on his own. He wasn’t happy there, he decided earth had more to offer, so, he took the door and left._ ”

Hyunjin was doubtful. Was it that easy to leave from Hell? Weren’t there any repercussion? Was earth really made for demons? He had so many questions he didn’t even know what to ask.

“ _What earth offered him?_ ” He finally settled on that question.

“ _Well, he helped people_.” The idea of a demon helping others would be a lot crazier to accept if Seungmin wasn’t the one who saved Chan. “ _He found the job of a hitman pretty appealing and it made it easy to display his abilities. He took great pleasure in it_. _But enough talking about him,_ ” the warlock stated, his attention back to Hyunjin. The vampire giggled, putting his tea aside as he felt Changbin leaning towards him, chasing a kiss that Hyunjin was pretty quick to give.

“ _And you told him?_ ” He groaned. “ _I can’t believe you told him that_ ,” he wasn’t really pissed, if he was, he wouldn’t be sitting on Changbin’s lap.

“ _Come on, Seungmin. I really like him, ok_."

“ _You said the same about me, but here we are_.” The demon laughed, nuzzling his nose against the other’s cheek.

“ _Yeah, and even if I were to remind you why we broke up, you’d still sit on my lap every day like you can’t move on_ ,” he dug his finger in Seungmin’s side every two words, knowing it’d tickle him enough for him to fall on the couch.

“ _You used to love that_ ,” the boy whined, sitting with his knees up against his chest, still snuggled against Changbin’s side like a lost puppy.

“ _Key word, ‘used to’._ ” Still, Changbin didn’t make any effort into pushing the demon aside.

Dating Seungmin had been the best years of his life and never would he regret it. They had met for a business matter, Seungmin requesting a spell, Changbin delivering it. They weren’t supposed to meet again. Except that Seungmin had quite the liking on Changbin and came back a few times, always asking for a different thing, joking around. Changbin wasn’t blind to the demon’s charm, he was indeed quite attractive, and their personalities seemed to match pretty well. So, when the demon came asking for a _warming spell_ , Changbin asked him on a date. It was weird. So weird, for a warlock to date a demon. Seungmin’s job wasn’t common, nor was it socially acceptable. Not that Changbin’s was, he could just lie about it more easily. In a way, it was always fun with Seungmin. They’d joke around, have lots of date, also, but that none of them would say it out loud, incredible sex. They had matching dynamics. Seungmin was used to rule and dominate, Changbin liked to submit and be taken care of. It was always like that, with them. It was always burning hot, with them. Until it became too hot. Too hot for the both of them to handle it. Every time they meet, it’d end up with the both of them butt naked. They both liked it, but it also felt artificial. They didn’t go on dates anymore, they didn’t exchange anything, they barely talked. They just met, had orgasmic sex, and then they’d part ways. “ _We’re just fuck buddies, Binnie_ ,” Seungmin had said one day. That’s when realization hit them. They were good friends, and they were good fucks, yet one overpowered the other and it wasn’t a sustainable relationship anymore. Breaking up might have been the best decision they could make for their friendship. They cared for each other so much, it was evident in every way. No one could say the contrary.

“ _Maybe we should check on that_ ,” the demon stated, mouth full of popcorns, eyes still focused on the horror movie displayed on the TV screen.

“ _That what?_ ” Changbin looked away from the movie, looking at his friend on the side.

“ _That guy, like, whoever he was, that you casted a spell on._ ”

“ _Do you even know how many people I cast spells on? Can’t you be more specific?_ ” The warlock took the TV remote, pausing the movie. Seungmin pointed his finger at the screen, so Changbin looked away. The movie was paused on a man, portraying a vampire.

“ _That guy who kidnapped your vampire’s vampire_.” He snorted at his own sentence.

“ _Oh,_ ” Changbin’s face fell as realization hit him. He had completely forgotten about him.

When they had rescued Chan, the old vampire had tried to escape. So, Changbin ran after him. He tried to run faster than him, but the vampire was too fast for that, so, he resulted into casting a spell onto him. A tracking spells. A bit of a curse too, but that was a detail, he kind of deserved it. The curse left black dust on his hands, that Seungmin was way too aware of. Of course, the demon knew him too well to break his shell and make him spill everything. They tried to track him right away, while Chan was half-unconscious in his bed. It gave nothing. Seungmin kept track of his whereabouts, reporting everything to Changbin at the end of the day.

“ _Did he move somewhere?_ ” The warlock suddenly asked, wondering where he could be now, as he seemed to move every two hours.

“ _Actually, your spell says that he hasn’t moved since yesterday_ ,” the demon took another handful of popcorns.

“ _What? No, that’s not—He’s always moving!_ ” He got up from his couch, going to his kitchen where he kept a paper with all the vampire’s whereabouts. “ _We should check what he’s doing, it could be big_ ,” he moved his finger along the words, stopping on the last place the vampire was seen.

When they entered the place, they weren’t prepared for this sight. It could have been anything. The vampire could have been staying in this place for a thousand of reasons, but this one wasn’t on their list. Well, it somehow was on Seungmin’s, yet he wished it wasn’t the case. There was a trap circle drawn on the floor, poorly drawn as Seungmin claimed, blood on the floor, around the body. The old vampire’s body. His neck was turned the other way, his chest had a hole in it—“ _his heart is probably missing_ ,” Seungmin stated—and his eyes were only two black holes.

“ _What hap—what happened?_ ” Changbin was devastated, lost.

“ _He summoned the Devil_ ,” the demon simply said, crouching down next to the body. He didn’t seem fazed by it. “ _He’s such a fool, believing legends and thinking he’s more powerful than him_.”

“ _Is he… Is he dead?_ ”

“ _Very dead. Which is quite a shame, actually. I wished to be the one to kill him._ ”

“ _Why? You don’t even know him._ ”

Seungmin got up from his spot, walking back to Changbin, taking both of his hands in his. “ _He hurt the one you love; he deserved it_.”


	19. Odd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their lives are full of main events, it's always one on top of the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I procrastinated on my uni work for this
> 
> Disclaimer1: this is dialogue heavy, sorry  
> Disclaimer2: there is a short smut scene in this chapter. If you feel uncomfortable reading it, and as it isn't that important to understand the chapter, I put some ' ** ' at the beginning and end of the scene, so that you can skip it.

During these past few months, they already had quite numerous main events. First, there was Chan’s kidnapping, followed by Changbin and Seungmin’s entrance in their family, which then led to that one main event which was Chan’s rescue. It was supposed to be the last one. Yet, when, a month later, Hyunjin came home and told everyone that him and Changbin had officialized their relationship, it became a main event.

“ _I’m so happy for you_ ,” Felix had shouted as he hugged Hyunjin.

“ _We’re all so proud of you_.”

“ _He better behave well, or I’ll take care of him_ ,” Chan’s overprotectiveness overflowed his words.

And just like that, another month passed. Everything was fine. Minho was doing well, Felix had a stable life, Hyunjin was happy in his relationship—his very first!—and Chan… Chan would say he was doing ok.

When he got rescued, everyone could tell that Chan was a mess, both physically and psychologically. Everyone, except Chan. He always said he was fine. Even when he fell asleep and felt trapped again, he said everything was fine. Even when Seungmin had his hand deep in his thigh, he said everything was fine. To him, _everything was fine_.

Lying down on his bed, the vampire stared at his ceiling, eyelids heavy from how little he had slept since he got home. His breathing was even, his head wasn’t pounding, nothing hurt anymore. There was nothing physically wrong with him, he was healing. He had almost completely healed, actually. His body was fine. As fine as a tortured body could be, or simply as fine as a vampire’s body could be. Point is, he was fine. Then what was wrong with his head. He couldn’t help but wonder, why couldn’t he fall asleep. It had been almost a week now. Couldn’t he just fall asleep?

Exhausted, his body gave up. His eyelids fell shut, his breathing got deeply even, he fell asleep. His mind wandered in this false realm, going from one memory to another, looking for the perfect setting for this one dream he was about to have.

Darkness surrounded him, soft dripping noise echoing from all around him, Chan woke up on a wet floor. “Where am I?” His voice sounded different. It echoed on the walls, he sounded like his old leader. He hated his voice as soon as the sound came back to his ears. He got up from the wet floor, his leg aching horrendously. As soon as he looked down, he saw his bone coming out from his ankle. “Broken… It’s broken,” he whispered to himself—trying to talk softly enough so that the noise won’t bounce on the walls and come back to him, in vain as he still heard it. He closed his eyes for a second, concentrating right enough to heal, the pain getting unbearable until it was completely gone. When he opened his eyes again, his bone was back on the inside, his injury forgotten as if it had never existed in the first place. Maybe he had just hallucinated it, after all. He took a step towards the door, wondering where he was. Not like he didn’t know, actually; he just didn’t want to believe it. The walls, the smell, the door, he recognized it instantly. It made his entire body panic. Still, he tried to remain calm. Calm enough to open the door. It led to a huge corridor. It was empty. Chan took a step in it. “Hello, Christopher.” It came from behind him. He turned in one move, there was no one. He tried to calm his breathing, that had gone crazy, before turning back to the corridor. His eyes fell on a beheaded body. He yelped in surprise. “Christopher, why are you ignoring me?” He turned back. There was still no one. Panicked, he started to run inside the corridor, dead bodies piling up as he ran. The corridor never ended. The more he ran, the longer the corridor was. The voice was still following him, calling his name, asking him questions. “ _Leave me alone!_ ”

“ _Chan, hey, love, shhhh, it’s just a nightmare_.” Chan felt soft hands on his face, Felix’s voice soothing in his ears.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying down on his bed, in his bedroom, Felix next to him. _A nightmare_. He closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath as he turned on his side to let Felix hug him tight. Face flushed against his boyfriend’s chest, he cried. Chan cried silently, feeling trapped in this old factory once again.

Still, Chan ignored it. When asked if he wanted to talk about it, he’d answer that he’s fine, or that he’s _just tired_. Felix wasn’t dupe, he knew Chan was lying, he wasn’t going to force him to talk, though.

It wasn’t only at night. It also happened during the day. Zoning out for a moment, body stiffening while he was drowning in his memories. A simple call of his name would get him out of it in an instant, yet you could see in his eyes how unfocused he was. It sometimes happened whenever he smelled sulfur, or whenever he saw someone looking remotely close to his former leader. There were a few daily life moments that got him drowning in his past experiences. Chan ignored them all. He kept on ignoring the signs, until it became unhealthy for everyone without him noticing.

“ _Please, just talk to me,_ ” Felix pleaded.

“ _Talk about what?_ ”

“ _Love, come on. You’re zoning out every now and then. I know it was a bad experience but—_ ”

“ _A ‘bad’ experience? Lix, I was tortured._ ” Chan stopped typing on his laptop, turning around in his desk chair to stare at his boyfriend who was sitting cross-legged on the bed.

“ _Ok, yes. My bad. It’s a trauma you have, and I know it’s hard to talk about it but you sh—_ ”

“ _You’re not my therapist,_ ” the older vampire started. “ _You don’t have to help me that way_.”

“ _Ok then, let’s find you a therapist_.”

“ _I don’t need one_ ,” the vampire scoffed, turning back to face his laptop.

“ _You literally just admitted you were tortured,_ ” Felix got up from the bed, stopping behind Chan as he circled his upper body, chin on top of his shoulder.

“ _I’m almost 530 years old. I don’t need a therapist_.”

Felix groaned, arms tightening around Chan’s torso. “ _Then how can I help you?_ ” He kissed his boyfriend’s temple, face staying against the other’s as he waited for his answer.

“ _Just act like my boyfriend._ ”

“ _What’s that supposed to mean? Am I n—_ ”

“ _Just kiss me_ ,” he chuckled, turning around again to hold the younger’s chin with his hand. They stared at each other for a moment, both having soft smiles on their faces as they closed the gap between them, lips moving instantly against the other’s.

Chan was sitting on the couch, it had been three weeks since he got rescued, only two since he was allowed to get out of bed without getting yelled at from Felix. The TV was on, the old vampire absorbed by what was on it. Hyunjin got out of his bedroom, sitting next to him.

“ _What are you watching?_ ”

“ _I don’t know, it’s a kid movie. There’s a few vampires, I thought it was fun._ ”

“ _Oh?_ ” Hyunjin sat more comfortably on the couch, looking at the TV screen too.

They simply sat there, next to each other while watching the movie none of them had the title of. They laughed at a few scenes, Hyunjin cried at some too, but for the most part, they simply enjoyed it with each other’s presence. Despite living together, now that Hyunjin was going on dates with the warlock, it was more and more difficult to see each other.

“ _I want to live in a manor too_ ,” Hyunjin breathed out softly. “ _Why does he get to live in a manor? That’s unfair_.” Hyunjin whined light heartedly while looking at the vampire in the movie, who was walking through his huge manor.

“ _I’m sorry I couldn’t get you one…_ ”

“ _What? Oh, Chan, no! I wasn’t—I didn’t mean th—I love our house!_ ” He was quick to explain himself when he saw that Chan had this sad look in his eyes, taking the words too deep at heart.

“ _I know it’s not a good house, that it isn’t big, nor pretty. I know we’re far from everything… I just wanted us to be safe,_ ” the older vampire explained, staring at his hands as he kept on playing with his fingers.

Hyunjin circled Chan’s torso with his arms, pulling him closer, repeating how he wasn’t serious and how much he loved the house they lived in. “ _I’d never leave that house, if it means leaving you all_.” Those few words made a smile appear on Chan’s face, Hyunjin simply hugged him tighter.

“ _You’re doing a group hug without me?_ ”

“ _If it’s just us two it’s not a group hug, Minho_.” Hyunjin chuckled, still opening one of his arms so that Minho could join. Which he did, not knowing why they were having one, just accepting the fact that a hug was required.

It wasn’t the same with Minho. If Felix tended to baby Chan, and Hyunjin to be overprotective, Minho was a bit indifferent—or at least acted that way. He appreciated it, not that he didn’t like the way Hyunjin and Felix were with him—he kind of did, though—, he just liked more the fact that Minho didn’t act any different from before his kidnapping. It was one of the only things keeping him sane.

“ _Want one?_ ” Minho handed him a cup of coffee.

“ _No, thanks. You can keep your bean juice_.”

“ _Bean juice? Oh, Chan._ ” He giggled, sitting at the table opposite him.

“ _What?_ ”

“ _You’re still calling it that?_ ”

“ _I’ve always called your coffee ‘bean juice’_ ,” Chan stated, crossing his arms against his puffed-out chest.

“ _I know! It’s been centuries, I just didn’t remember you still saying it_.” They both laughed, remembering how it had all started. Chan didn’t know what coffee was at the time, so, when he saw Minho making it, he named it what he felt was logical: ‘bean juice’. Just like you’d say an apple juice, orange juice… bean juice. It had made Minho laugh so much; Chan kept on saying it for the sole purpose of entertaining his friend.

“ _How is it going with Felix?_ ”

“ _Well, great? We don’t do much more than what you guys see. I mean, we all live together anyway_ ,” the older vampire said, staring at the other’s coffee.

“ _Well, I don’t see you often. But I hear you two arguing quite a lot._ ” Minho didn’t need to say anything more, Chan knew. He knew they could all hear them. He knew that they weren’t whispering, especially not him. He knew they were all worried for them, about them.

“ _Can you keep that a secret?_ ”

“ _Mm, go on my friend_.” They chuckled at that.

“ _I just feel like Felix keeps on babying me and—I’m older than him. I’m his f—_ ”

“ _Yeah, we know. Don’t say it please, it’s weird enough for me._ ”

“ _I don’t want him to act like I’m a child that needs a lollipop after going to the dentist, or whatever it actually is_.”

“ _Children really needs one after that? Wait, what’s a dentist?_ ”

“ _Felix told me they sometimes do because they’re scared or because it hurt or something. I never went to one, it didn’t really exist when I… when I was human._ ”

“ _But what’s a dentist?_ ”

“ _Oh, the one that fix your teeth_ ,” Chan opened his mouth to show his teeth, as if Minho didn’t know what it was.

“ _Why would you need to f—oh, yeah, humans might need to._ ” He giggled, remembering that one time Jisung, already old, had bitten on an apple and cried in pain because of his teeth hurting.

“ _Anyway, what I mean is, I’m not a child. I can take care of myself, on my own, I don’t want him, especially not him, to baby me like he does_.”

“ _Then you should tell him_.” Minho took a sip of his coffee. “ _He’ll just keep doing that until you tell him you don’t like it. How can he know?_ ”

“ _And that’s on what I’m not going to do_.”

However, he did tell him. Once he had enough of it. That was the last straw. Chan was already at his limit when Felix had gone into the bathroom just to clean his body for him, but right when the younger had tried to tuck him to bed, Chan exploded. His anger took over him, and he yelled at Felix. There was no filter available as Chan spoke, nothing stopped him until Felix had a stray tear rolling down his cheek. He didn’t even had time to apologize, or to hold onto his wrist, that Felix had already left the room. He heard him cry all night, it kept him awake. Chan felt horrible. He was the worst person ever. Felix deserved better. He was no good for him.

The next day, when Chan got up, Felix was already gone. A simple note on the kitchen’s table saying that he was at work. Chan sighed, sitting on the couch and waited until his boyfriend got home. He didn’t talk to anyone. He simply nodded his head along if asked a question. When Felix finally got home, he instantly got up and took him to their shared bedroom. “ _I’m sorry about yesterday, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You deserve so much better I’d completely understand if you want to leave me for someone else_.” One breath. He didn’t even let Felix a chance to interrupt him. The younger waited patiently before pinching his cheek hard, hard enough for Chan to whimper in pain.

“ _You’re an idiot, why would I leave you? Because we fight sometimes? Please. I’m sorry if I got overprotective. I talked with Minho… He—He told me and I—I understand. So, I’m sorry too. Can we forget about it and just…go back to how things were before?_ ” Chan nodded heavily at that, his two hands falling flat on Felix’s cheeks to force him to pucker out his lips, kissing him with a loud noise that made the younger laugh.

**

Chan basked in Felix’s deep moans. A hand tight on his hip, almost bruising him from how hard he held onto him, he couldn’t help but drown himself in the noises his boyfriend made underneath him. He leaned in a bit, just enough to run his tongue across his Adam’s apple. The younger shivered, his right hand clasping the bed sheets even tighter as his left one got lost in Chan’s curly hair. They both moved in one rhythm, breaths heavy and hot.

The older vampire moved up a bit, lips pressed beneath Felix’s ear.

“ _Lix, everything’s ok between us, right?_ ”

“ _Mmm, yes_.” He barely answered, his hands pulling on his hair a bit. Chan was slowing down, so Felix quickened the pace.

“ _Promise?_ ”

Felix suddenly stopped moving his hips, Chan stopping, too, soon after. “ _Do you really want to talk about it now?_ ” He pulled hard enough on his hair so that he was facing him, eyes cold but still veiled with lust. “ _Do you, really, think that it’s the right moment to talk about this?_ ”

Chan bit onto his bottom lip, looking into Felix’s eyes before looking down at their joined hips, at his boyfriend’s hard-on and his own shaft deep inside the other. “ _Maybe not_ ,” he whispered, mostly to his own realization.

“ _Then just keep moving, and let’s talk after. Please, please, just let go for a minute_.”

Chan nodded, his hand moving from the other’s hip up to his cheek, kissing him on the lips as he started moving his hips again.

**

None of them expected this to happen. Hyunjin had gone to Changbin’s house, for _yet another date_. When he got home, lips a bit swollen, Felix followed him to his bedroom to hear all the gossips he could. Chan and Minho stayed sitting at the kitchen table, looking as the two youngers giggled while talking. It made them smile fondly, not even imagining how the next events could turn out.

“ _Wouldn’t it be weird to have a warlock in the family?_ ” Minho asked, taking a sip of his coffee while waiting for Chan’s answer.

“ _What do you mean ‘in the family’?_ ”

“ _Well, him and Hyunjin seemed… close already, it’s just a question of time for them to start dating for real._ ”

“ _Mm, and your point is?_ ”

“ _That once they officialize things, Changbin will become my future brother-in-law or whatever they call it,_ ” he took another sip of his coffee, ready to talk again when Hyunjin suddenly entered the room.

“ _We have a problem!_ ”

And they, indeed, had a problem.

It hadn’t even been an hour since Hyunjin had gotten home when he received a text message from Changbin. Thinking it’d be a normal, casual text, he opened it with Felix. “ ** _Please, all of you, come to this address, it’s urgent_** ” the message stated. He didn’t know much more than this. But if Changbin said it was urgent, and it required all of them, then it must have been urgent.

They didn’t understand why they had to go this abandoned house. Still, they did. Suspiciously, Chan walked in front of everyone, on his guard. He pushed a door at the end of the long corridor, falling face-to-face with Changbin, discerning Seungmin’s figure behind him. He was about to ask something, when he deciphered the dead body that Seungmin was badly trying to hide.

“ _What the fuck is going on here_ ,” he asked, mouth falling in an ‘o’ shape.

“ _I swear, and really, I swear to God we found it like that!_ ”

“ _It? Who is th—_ ” he pushed the warlock from his path, walking towards the demon that, without even being asked to, moved to the side. Chan finally recognized it. His old leader. His body froze. He stared at the lifeless body, random waves of emotions filling his body to the point he didn’t even know how to react.

“ _Hey, love, what’s going on, who is it?_ ” Felix asked as he walked towards him, an arm going to the older’s shoulder as he approached. Finally, Felix was next to him, staring at his sequestrator. “ _Oh, love, are you alright? You must be rel—_ ” The boy didn’t even get time to finish his sentence that Chan fell on his knees, crying.

They all ran up to him, hands all over him, on his shoulders, back, arms, asking if he was alright. Chan started to shake, unable to breathe, tears filling his entire face the harder he cried. “ _How? Why? Who?_ ” The vampire couldn’t look anywhere else but at his former leader’s face, his cry getting louder every second.

Chan completely broke down, to the point Minho had to lift him up and force out of the room. They had to leave, far from the body.

Forced to lie down on Changbin’s couch, Chan wasn’t crying anymore, but his head was pounding loudly. He sobbed every now and then, eyes focus on the warlock’s ceiling.

“ _What happened?_ ” he heard Hyunjin say.

“ _I used the tracking spell, for weeks,_ ” Changbin finally admitted.

“ _Weeks? And you told us only now?_ ” Felix sounded furious.

“ _Look, I’m sorry. If I had known it’d end this way, I would have told you sooner. The point is, he had oddly stopped moving so we went to check if everything was alright. I swear we found him like this, we didn’t do it!_ ”

Chan didn’t hear any more noises. There was an odd silence. He sat upright on the couch, looking at the group. His eyes directly went to Seungmin, accusing him wordlessly. The demon lifted his hands in the air.

“ _I didn’t kill him_.”

“ _And why on earth would I believe you?_ ” Chan accused.

“ _Well, if I were the one who killed him, I’d for sure have cut his legs afterwards, and I’d probably have ripped his lungs out too_ ,” Seungmin admitted bluntly.

“ _Ok, you know what? I’ll pretend you denied it outright._ ” He got up from the couch, walking all the way to the demon, not even once looking away from his eyes.

The two men seemed about to fight. Any slight wrong move and they would be on each other’s throats. Everyone felt it. Changbin took Seungmin’s hand while Felix took Chan’s, pulling the both of them away from the other.

“ _Let’s go home, love._ ”

“ _Min, calm down, please_.”

Separating the two boys hadn’t been easy, especially not since they both kept on throwing remarks at each other. Minho and Felix managed to force Seungmin out of the house, luring him into getting a drink. Chan sat with Hyunjin on the couch, the warlock, just as always, going to make tea.

“ _Chan, how are you feeling?_ ”

“ _As long as I don’t see that demon, fine_.”

“ _No, I mean… Chan, why do you… please, Chan, why are you sad over his death?_ ” Hyunjin held a soft hand over the older’s knee, eyes pleading.

“ _He’s my leader… He was my leader, Hyunjin. How can I not—_ ”

“ _He tortured you!_ ” Hyunjin interrupted.

Changbin sat next to Hyunjin, placing the cups of tea on the coffee table in front of them. He didn’t intrude the conversation yet, simply listening. Chan felt sad over his own memories, the image he wanted to keep of him in his head. He was overlooking the latest events, forgetting how he had been mistreated, kidnapped, tortured, and everything else. The only thing Chan was seeing at that very instant, was that the man who helped him become the vampire that he is today, was brutally murdered.

“ _Chan, can I tell you something?_ ” the warlock finally butted in.

“ _I guess?_ ”

“ _Your so-called leader, he summoned Satan. He wanted to overpower him, which got him killed._ ” Changbin looked away from the vampire to take a sip of his tea, putting it back on the table before continuing. “ _We really did find him like that._ ”

“ _How do you know he summoned him? For real, why would I believe you?_ ”

Hyunjin turned towards the older vampire, putting a hand on his shoulder. “ _Chan, they helped us. They helped you. Why would they lie?_ ”

“ _Look, Hyunjin, I know how things are between you two,_ ” he eyed Changbin before looking back at the vampire. “ _But I really don’t see why a demon would not kill a vampire_.”

“ _Look, old man, Seungmin didn’t do it. He was with me, when it happened. So, believe what you want, it doesn’t change anything for me_.” The warlock got up from his seat, going back to his kitchen.

The two vampires stared at each other, listening to the noises the other was making from the other room. They could hear him look through cabinets, slamming books on a table, turning pages, grunting, scribbling on papers.

“ _Is everything ok?_ ” Hyunjin asked, turning over to look at the kitchen. He didn’t get any answer in return.

Changbin came back to the living-room, taking Chan’s hands and forcing a piece of paper in it. “ _Call that guy and get some help_.”

When Chan finally got home, he almost instantly joined Felix in their shared bedroom, lying down on their bed to snuggle against him, eyes closed as Felix ran his fingers through his hair.

“ _What do you mean you’re not going?_ ”

“ _I don’t want to go, that is all. I don’t need it_.” Chan whispered against the other’s chest.

“ _Love, it’s a therapist. I know it’s scary, but you really need it. And Changbin was kind enough to give you his number, you could at least call_.” The young vampire leaned in a bit, placing a kiss on top of the other’s head.

“ _It’s not like that that you’re going to convince me_.”

“ _Just go once and see if you want to continue. Please_.”

The conversation kept on going back and forth, Chan finally giving in, sighing loudly as he agreed. Felix giggled, happy that his boyfriend had finally agreed, holding both of his cheeks as he kissed him with a loud noise.

Chan didn’t want to go. If it was only for him, he wouldn’t even have called in the first place. But Felix stayed behind him, all the time, making sure he was calling for real, taking an appointment for real, or simply holding his hand in reassurance. And if Felix hadn’t accompanied him, Chan would have never gone to his first appointment, he’d probably have simply faked it. But no. Felix stayed with him the whole time, and now Chan was sitting in front of a therapist, who wasn’t even fazed about him being a vampire.

It felt weird to talk. To admit what he felt. To put words on his feelings and emotions. Everything was overwhelming, to the point that Chan cried during the appointment, and once again when he got home and lied down on his bed. Unlike he had predicted, Chan did take another appointment. And before he could realize it, he went to therapy every week.

It helped him. It really helped him. Not only with how to deal with his kidnapping, but also with himself. Chan wasn’t the same since he had come back, everyone knew it. Every once in a while, the only thing Chan would be able to think of, is how he was unable to stay strong and succumbed to the torture, giving his former leader the exact information that he had been looking for.

One of Chan’s main goal, when going to therapy, was regaining his position as a leader. Not that he wanted to break the _no hierarchy_ rule, the vampire simply wanted to be able to _act_ as a leader again. Not feel like the weakest person on earth.

“ _You told me you’re a 1 st Gen, right?_” his therapist asked one day. Chan nodded at that. “ _Well, you are more powerful than your family, then_.”

“ _No. No, I’m not_.”

“ _Of course, you are. Believe in yourself, Chan_.”

It took time. So much time for him to finally believe in himself again. Chan almost gave up. Almost, but then, as he was casually talking with Hyunjin, an idea came to him. It wasn’t very ethical, but it was enough of a motivation to help him get confident again.

“ _I’m actually very surprised that you came to see me_.”

“ _And I’m very surprised that you live in such a mess_ ,” Chan retorted.

“ _I’m not holding you; you can leave_.”

Chan snorted, turning around to stare at the host. “ _Come on, your apartment is such a mess I don’t even know where to sit. No wonder you’re always at Changbin’s house_.”

“ _How do you know that?_ ” He sounded offended.

“ _Hyunjin told me,_ ” the vampire took a step towards him, laughing a bit. “ _Look, I just have some questions._ ”

“ _I’m listening_.”

“ _How is it in hell?_ ” Chan had expected every reaction but not the other choking on his own saliva. “ _Oh, come on Seungmin, you can’t be that surprised._ ”

“ _Oh, but I am!_ ” The demon took a step towards Chan, rubbing his face with his hand. “ _Why are you suddenly interested in hell?_ ”

The vampire couldn’t tell the truth, at least not entirely. He found a vague excuse, convincing Seungmin—but did he, really? Still, the demon cleaned his couch so that they could both sit on it.

It wasn’t easy for Seungmin to talk about his experience in hell. He didn’t really want to remember it, in a way. The only thing he wanted, was to forget about his previous life. Still, as Chan kept on asking, he explained everything.

He first started with how his father created all. With how Satan made demons out of _thin air_ —he wasn’t even exactly sure how they were created; he just liked the idea of being born from nothing. And then he explained how some human souls were corrupted enough to get to hell and become demons too.

“ _So, would you say that, true demons and turned demons are equals, or like for vampires that there’s differences in their powers?_ ”

“ _I’d love to answer you, but I never really compared our powers_.”

Getting straight answers from Seungmin seemed a more complicated task than what Chan had thought.

He had only one goal, and that was to do what his former leader failed to do. Gathering information from Seungmin was necessary to it. Everyone found it odd when Chan started to spend more time with Seungmin. It was mostly Minho and Felix who found it odd, probably because they were the ones left behind. Hyunjin and Changbin spent a large amount of time together, now that they were a couple, and Chan was almost every day with Seungmin. Felix was at work during the day and joined Minho during the night to watch a movie or anything else. It was odd.

“ _Are you going there tomorrow, too?_ ”

“ _Probably, yes. Why?_ ” Chan turned to his side, looking at Felix’s saddened face. “ _Is everything ok?_ ” The other simply hummed, turning around to flush his face against his chest.

“ _What are you even doing there?_ ”

“ _Well, we just talk_.”

“ _Can’t you talk somewhere else?_ ” Felix’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“ _Lix, what’s wrong?_ ” Chan took his boyfriend’s shoulder to push him slightly, staring into his eyes.

“ _I miss you_ ,” he admitted. “ _That’s all, I just miss you_.”

“ _How am I supposed to make him powerless then?_ ” Chan got up from the demon’s couch, walking all the way to the kitchen and stopped right next to the demon, looking over his shoulder.

“ _There’s an object we could use_ ,” the demon started, looking through the pages of his book. “ _This one would be easier_.” He pointed at the drawing of handcuffs. “ _What do you think, vampie?_ ”

“ _Isn’t that a bit kinky? And I told you to stop calling me that_.”

“ _I think it’s better if I un-hear that_ ,” they both laughed before concentrating again. “ _They’re special handcuffs, made with certain materials and one particular spell. Once put on a magical being, it unable their power for a certain amount of time_.”

“ _How long?_ ”

“ _Mm depends on how strong they are, vampie. Could be forever, could be a few hours_.”

“ _Could you make one?_ ” Chan suddenly asked, eyes still focus on the book, ignoring the nickname. Seungmin didn’t seem keened to give up on calling him that.

“ _Of course, I could._ ” The demon answered quickly. “ _But why would I mak—oh, ok. But let’s set some rules first._ ”

“ _Sure, sure, tell me_.” The vampire turned to face the other man, waiting for him to state out the _rules_.

“ _Do not ever use it on me!_ ”

Chan couldn’t help but laugh at the serious face Seungmin had. “ _Even in a wet dream I wouldn’t handcuff you_.”

“ _I don’t know if I should be offended or disgusted_.” Once again, they laughed.

At first, it was just to gather information. But, spending more and more time with him, Chan started to genuinely like Seungmin. The demon was pretty fun. He always had something to say, was pretty energetic. And, he didn’t seem to despise Chan as much as before. If he disliked him, he wouldn’t have given him a nickname, right? It was still a bit new and weird for Chan, as he had never really gotten any friends—especially not a non-vampire one.

All of his life, he had believed that vampires were the only creatures living among humans, or to exist in general. Yet, now, there he was, knowing about witches, warlocks, demons even! Everything was new and strange to him, he sometimes had trouble grasping what was real and what was not.

Still, there was only one goal in Chan’s head, and it was soon to be accomplished.

It was already late at night. Seungmin had once again explained the plan to Chan. He will draw a summoning circles on the floor—“ _better than your old leader_ ”—all the while Chan will drink a potion. One of the perks of knowing Changbin, was that Seungmin had an easy access to ingredients and spells. Sure, the summoning spell and all of these would be done way better if Changbin was the one doing it, yet no one could know of this plan. Once Chan will have finished his drink, they could—the both of them—recite the spell. The next step was the hardest one. To put the handcuffs on Satan. This is where the potion was useful; it’d give Chan the ability to cross the summoning spell without being weakened by it. How he will put the handcuffs on was his problem to resolve. Then, he’ll have a few minutes to take advantage of the weakened Devil and kill him. Chan didn’t really care if the legend was true and he’d become the Devil. The only thing he wanted, was for him to die. He wanted all of their suffering to end. He despised him. Oh, he despised Satan so much.

Seungmin put a glass full of a weird-looking liquid next to Chan, taking a brush and a bowl with paint as he was about to draw the summoning circle. Chan stayed there, not moving, eyes glued to the glass. It looked disgusting.

“ _Come on, just drink it_.”

The vampire sighed, taking the glass in his hands. He gulped loudly, approaching the glass to his lips. The smell was horrible, he wanted to puke. He took a sip of the drink, eyes closed with all his force. It tasted horrible. He put the glass back on the table after a sip.

“ _No but, like. Chug-a-lug, vampie._ ” Seungmin got up from the floor, a fist on his hips.

“ _What?_ ” Chan tilted his head to the side, clearly confused as to what the demon meant.

“ _Oh god. Quaff the glass._ ”

The vampire sighed heavily, taking the glass again. He couldn’t help but stare at it, regretting a bit. He pinched his nose with his free hand, drinking the glass in one go and swallowed it before putting the glass back on the table. He retched; a hand instantly placed on top of his mouth.

“ _Oh god, you’re such a wimp._ ” The demon went back to his side once he was done with his drawing. “ _You good to go with the spell?_ ” Chan had still a hand on his mouth, shaking his head sideways. Seungmin sighed, leaving to his kitchen and coming back with a glass of water, the vampire drinking it all.

Reciting the spell wasn’t hard at all. The circle started to glow a bit, wind engulfing the room. Seungmin held onto his kitchen table, Chan holding the demon’s arm strongly. It felt like an indoor tornado.

“ _What’s going on?_ ” Chan yelled over the noise.

“ _How would I know? You think I do that in my free time?_ ”

They both kept on bickering, until the wind stopped. It felt like the room suddenly became lighter, both of them falling a bit on their knees. The circle was still empty.

“ _Did it work?_ ”

“ _It’s glowing, I’d say yes_.”

“ _How long is that supposed to take?_ ” Chan grunted, annoyed that it was taking so long. “ _When is he going to arrive?_ ” He turned his back on the circle, facing Seungmin. He groaned again, fists on his hips. “ _Who does he think he is? It’s not a restaurant, here_.”

“ _I always knew you were the smartest one._ ”


	20. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan needs Seungmin's help. Because now, there's the Devil behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is, finally, the second to last chapter. It isn't that long, especially compared to the last two, but I hope it'll be enough for you. Thank you so much for reading until there, and to all of you who kudos-ed this work and/or left comments. It means a lot to me.
> 
> (I would like to thank Felix for going live once I was done writing this short chapter. I was a b!tch saying he'd go live when I was busy, sorry Felix.)

Seungmin’s eyes were black, and focused beyond Chan. The vampire gulped loudly, both anger and fear fighting in his head. The voice came from behind him, from inside of the circle.

“ _It’s a lovely house that you have, but why would you call me all of a sudden?_ ”

Chan turned around; his bottom lip trapped between his teeth. One hand behind his back, clasped around the handcuffs Seungmin had made. He wasn’t paying enough attention to the demon behind him, he could only focus on the Devil in front of him.

“ _Why did you kill him?_ ”

“ _You might need to be a bit more specific with your question, Christopher_. _Who?_ ”

“ _My leader_ ,” Chan spat. He wanted to kill him right here and now.

“ _But he tried to kill me first, Christopher_.” The Devil whined, showing him his neck. In full display. His supposedly weak spot, he was showing it on full display, acting as if Chan was no threat for him. It made him even more angry.

He was about to step inside the circle, to handcuff him and to kill him in the most barbaric way he could think of. He took a step forward, the demon behind him holding his wrist.

“ _Not yet_ ,” he whispered in his ear.

The Devil finally spotted Seungmin, a grin on his face. The demon cowardly shuddered, moving to the side so that he could be hidden by Chan’s figure. The Devil simply laughed, moving his head to the side. “ _Come on, little one, why don’t you show me your face_.” The demon swallowed his saliva, hard, stepping in front of Chan with shaky legs. “ _Oh, how pretty you’ve become. You've killed a lot, I’m so proud of you, despite your treacherous leaving_.”

The vampire felt out of place. It wasn’t supposed to go that way. He took a step forward, his hand finding Seungmin’s. The demon was shaking with fear, with submission. It was weird to see him like that. Chan needed to remind him of their plan, of why they were here, doing this, in the first place. Softly, he tapped twice inside Seungmin’s hand, dragging his attention towards him. He then moved his head ever so slightly towards the handcuffs in his hands, one of his eyebrows arched. It was all Seungmin needed to come back to his senses. He shook his head, turning back towards the Devil.

“ _What? You’re not scared anymore?_ ” The Devil asked. “ _Is it because of him?_ ” He pointed towards Chan, which simply made Seungmin laugh loudly.

“ _Ew, no._ ” Both the vampire and the demon said in unison.

Chan finally took a step inside the circle. He stopped in his track, biting onto his lip harder. He felt a heavy weight falling upon him. He wanted to scream in pain. Still, he took another step inside, his grasp on the handcuffs becoming more and more painful.

As he was walking towards a disconcerted Devil, he doubted. Will the handcuffs work? Will he be able to kill him? It was a question of fate and luck, more than anything.

Once he was in front of the Devil, he felt vulnerable. He was small, so small he needed to lean his head back to look at the Devil in the eyes.

“ _What is it that you want, Christopher?_ ”

He waited for the right opportunity. The Devil kept on talking, asking questions, to which Chan simply stared in silence as an answer. He wasn’t going to talk. He only wanted to hear him scream in pain. He wanted him to be in so much pain he would be scared of him.

“ _I said, what do you want?_ ” He was getting angry. He put both of his large hands on Chan’s shoulders. The pain was insufferable. The heavy weight on top of Chan’s body was becoming greater with each second.

“ _Now_!” Seungmin yelled from behind. In one move, Chan put one side of the handcuff on Satan’s wrist, struggling to put the other side on his other wrist. Satan wasn’t blind, nor was he an idiot. He wasn’t going to let himself be handcuffed without trying to get rid of it. Chan fell on the floor, swiped away by the Devil in front of him.

“ _And what do you think you’ve achieved?_ ” He said, both wrists handcuffed.

Chan was still on the floor, the heavy weight preventing him from getting up. The spell wasn’t going to last forever, and he could feel it fading away.

After a bit of a struggle, Chan managed to get up, both nails and fangs out. “ _Why do you create us, if you only want to kill us?_ ” He lunged towards the Devil, digging his nail inside his abdomen. “ _Why do you harm us so much?_ ” He dug his hand inside his stomach, taking great pleasure in the pained noise the Devil made.

“ _Come on, Christopher. What is it that you really want to ask?_ ” Chan felt two hands around his throat, lifting him up from the floor.

He choked a bit, becoming short of breath. Chan struggled his way out of the Devil’s hand, slapping him on the face and lacerating his cheek with his nails. “ _Why did you make me turn him? What did you do to me?_ ” The vampire finally yelled at the top of his lungs.

“ _Chan! Chan, come on, stay focused!_ ” He heard Seungmin’s voice but couldn’t think about anything else than the monster in front of him.

“ _So, that is what’s been troubling you all this time, Christopher?_ ” The Devil kneeled in front of him, a hand cupping his cheek. “ _Why didn’t you tell me, Christopher? I’m here for you_ ,” he added with a smile. Chan gulped; eyes fixed into the Devil’s two red orbs. He felt trapped in this stare.

“ _All I want is for you to be happy_ ,” the Devil continued.

Chan didn’t even have time to register what was happening. He was lost in his own head, only able to witness as the Devil broke free from the handcuffs, staring at him with a smile. He felt his evilly hot hand on his cheek again, the long nail from his thumb slowly cutting his flesh over his cheekbone. He wasn’t even feeling any pain. He was just numb all-over, his entire body crushed by the heavy weight of the circle.

“ _I never wanted to harm any of you_ ,” the Devil was whispering. “ _I’ve always wanted nothing else but your happiness._ ”

Seungmin was watching it all from the beginning, anxiousness sweating from his forehead. He didn’t know what to do. He was witnessing the situation becoming out of hand, yet he couldn’t do anything else but look at it.

However, when he saw that the Devil was coming dangerously close to Chan, he bit hard on his tongue and entered the circle to grab Chan’s collar and drag him out of it, the both of them falling on the floor, outside of the circle.

“ _Come one! You’re no fun!_ ” The Devil whined once again, trapped alone in the circle. “ _Do you really think this can stop me?_ ”

It should’ve worried the demon a bit more, but right now, all he decided to focus on, was the vampire next to him.

“ _You ok, vampie?_ ” He moved the other’s hair from his face.

“ _Don’t_ ,” the vampire started, taking a long breath. “ _Call me that_ ,” he finally added, closing his eyes for a moment. He breathed with his mouth opened, finally free from the heavy weight from the circle. It made Seungmin chuckle, relieved that he was ok.

“ _You know, Christopher… You’ve always been my favorite_.” The Devil said, gaining the two other’s attention.

Chan got up from the floor, leaning on Seungmin. “ _What?_ ”

The Devil got to the edge of the circle, staring right into the vampire’s eyes. “ _I’ve been looking upon all of you, and I have to admit you really are the best one._ ” It should’ve been a compliment, but it felt like an insult to Chan. “ _I want to gratify you with a present_.” The vampire should’ve been wary of this. “ _I can let you spend time with your family, your human family. For eternity. Or, you can stay here, with your little vampires. It’s your choice, now_.”

Chan took a glance at the demon behind him before looking back into the Devil’s red eyes, pondering the thought.

It had been a normal day so far. Minho woke up around nine, going straight to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. As usual, there was a note on the table. It was from Chan, letting them know he was at Seungmin’s place. So far, there was nothing unusual. It really was a normal day, with normal turns of events.

Until it was almost night and Chan was still not home.

Felix had come back from work around noon, asking where his boyfriend was. “ _At Seungmin’s_ ,” Minho simply answered. Even Hyunjin had come back from Changbin’s place. Now, they were all three sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the front door and waiting for their leader figure to come back.

“ _Can’t you ask Changbin if he knows anything?_ ” Minho finally asked, eyes staring at Hyunjin.

“ _Why would he know?_ ” He still took his phone out of his jeans pocket.

“ _Aren’t the two of them close? Maybe he can call Seungmin and ask if anything happened?_ ” Hyunjin hummed at that reasoning, typing on his phone quickly.

It didn’t take long for the warlock to answer. However, it wasn’t what the three vampires wanted to hear. “ ** _I tried calling him, but he isn’t answering his phone, sorry I have no idea._** ”

It worried them even more. It made them worried sick. What if something had happened to Chan on the way? What if he was attacked? What if his old leader wasn’t dead and was in fact sequestrating Chan again? Or what if Seungmin had turned his back on them and hurt Chan? No, Hyunjin couldn’t think of this possibility.

“ _What if something happened to the both of them?_ ” Hyunjin whispered, unsure if Minho wanted to hear this hypothesis.

“ _Shouldn’t you call Changbin and ask for his address? Maybe we should go and check on them?_ ” Minho suggested. Hyunjin was about to call his boyfriend when he was stopped by Felix’s hands.

The younger boy had been heavily silent since the beginning of their conversation. He was staring at his hands, anxious.

“ _No, don’t. What if…_ ” He stopped talking to swallow his saliva and take a deep breath. “ _What if they’re actually just…_ ” He hesitated a moment, he didn’t want to believe what he was about to say. “ _What if Chan’s just actually cheating on me?_ ”

The two vampires gasped at that.

“ _What? No! Felix, no! Why would you think that?_ ” Hyunjin took Felix’s hand in his, caressing it with his thumb.

“ _He spends more time there than here, he’s always talking about him, getting home later every time…_ ” Felix closed his eyes for a moment, biting onto his bottom lip hard enough to contain his tears from falling. “ _He barely talks to me anymore. What if he just sees me as a son and not a boyfriend anymore?_ ”

Minho got up from his seat to kneel next to Felix, taking his free hand in his. “ _You’re just jealous, Felix._ ”

The younger simply sighed, not even denying the other’s words.

“ _When you’re jealous, it’s your lack of confidence that’s speaking,_ ” Minho added.

“ _What do you mean my lack of confidence?_ ” Felix looked up from his hands to stare at the older vampire.

“ _Well, you worry that he doesn’t love you as much as you love him, you’re not confident in yourself to see why he would stay with you._ ”

A short silence fell upon them as Felix pondered the thought. He was indeed jealous. There was nothing he could do about it.

“ _It’s that bad…?_ ” He finally whispered as realization hit him.

“ _But it’s a good a thing, too. To be jealous, I mean. It shows that you’re not overconfident, that you don’t take him for granted._ ” Minho caressed the back of his hand with his thumb, smiling fondly at him.

Felix felt powerless. He could barely imagine any other plausible reason as to why Chan would spend so much time with the demon if not for that one reason.

“ _There’s actually something…_ ” Hyunjin started, voice low. It got the two other’s attention. “ _I’ve been thinking quite a lot but,_ ” He paused for a second, wondering how he could word his thoughts. “ _Chan hasn’t been really Chan since we got him back_.”

The two others nodded in agreement. Chan was indeed less Chan than before. He tended to focus more on his old leader than anything else. There was nothing really wrong with that, but it had become quite an obsession. And, he seemed especially more obsessed with the words he shared with his former leader.

“ _Maybe he simply went to Seungmin’s to get help with that?_ ” It was a bit of an easy conclusion.

“ _Why would he go to a demon? Isn’t Changbin more appropriate for that?_ ”

“ _Well, Chan may have mentioned once that he wanted… That he needed answers from the Devil._ ” Felix whispered, still wondering what Chan had meant by that. “ _Isn’t it then more logical to go to a demon if it’s about the Devil?_ ”

“ _We should believe in him. Chan wouldn’t hurt us in any way. I’m sure he’ll come back sooner than we think, and he’ll explain himself_.” Minho took both of the younger vampire’s hands in his, smiling fondly at them.

“ _I’m sure there is a plausible explanation to all of this_.”

Still, Hyunjin texted Changbin about all of their thoughts and asked if he could try and get a word from Seungmin. They wanted to believe in Chan, in the fact that everything will turn out ok. They needed that reassurance.

“ _So, what do you chose, Christopher? Which family do you really want?_ ”


	21. The Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Devil made an offer. It's the cure to it all. Chan has waited so long to find that cure, he's faced with a dilemma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is, the very last chapter. It's a bit short, I'm sorry.

“ _Come on, Christopher. Isn’t the choice a bit too easy to make?_ ”

The rough voice rang through the demon’s living-room. Seungmin took a step towards Chan, holding his arm with force. “ _You’re not actually considering it, right?_ ”

Chan turned his head towards him, the answer evident in his eyes. Seungmin felt his heart sink a bit; he barely knew the vampire, it hadn’t been that long, yet he still couldn’t understand why he was hesitating. Why would he consider this deal? Why would he, from what he heard, prefer a family that turned his back on him over the family he created over the centuries he’s lived? A loving family who is probably waiting for him to come home.

“ _Come on, you’re joking, right?_ ”

“ _I haven’t seen them in centuries!_ ” Chan whisper yelled. He didn’t want the Devil to hear them debating over this, forgetting that he could probably hear every conversation happening from kilometres around.

“ _They’re dead. And so should you be, if you weren’t a vampire._ ”

Chan lowered his head a bit, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. The demon almost claimed victory too fast. He really thought he had convinced him.

“ _I want to see them_.”

“ _Don’t accept that deal, Chan_.” Seungmin was almost pleading. Almost.

“ _Why not?_ ” The vampire didn’t let him answer, turning back to face the Devil.

He was still trapped in the circle, offering his hand to Chan. He had this smug smile on his face, that Seungmin wanted oh so desperately to rip off. The vampire breathed deeply, taking a step forward. Seungmin’s hand slid from his arm, but his gripped tightened around his wrist.

“ _Don’t_.” Chan stopped. “ _It’s a trap, Chan_.”

“ _And what do you know about it?_ ” He was getting angry. Once again, he looked back at the demon. His eyes were glowing red with anger. His jaw was clenched tightly, Seungmin would almost be scared if it were another circumstance.

“ _Chan, I’m a demon. We’re the same kind, I know his tricks!_ ” He tugged on the vampire’s wrist, pulling him towards him. Still, the other pulled back, trying to free his wrist from the demon.

“ _Let me make my own choice!_ ” He pulled again, his arm coming free. Seungmin was quick to hold it back, a bit tighter. “ _Let me go, Seungmin!_ ”

They started to bicker, Seungmin trying to persuade the vampire not to accept the obvious trap that Satan was offering. The vampire was blinded by the offer, the sole idea of seeing his family again being enough to make him drop everything in life.

The Devil was still standing there, watching them, close to the edge of the circle, ready to take Chan’s hand in his. He almost took it. In a desperate move, Seungmin pushed Chan to the side, not caring that he fell on his side, erasing a small part of the circle with his shoe sole. The Devil snickered with his rough voice, disappearing in thin dust. A blast of wind went through the room, all the lights flickered before shutting down, diving them into darkness for a few seconds. It then all went back to normal. Chan was lying on his side, Seungmin standing in front of an empty, broken circle.

Chan got up from the floor, lips tightly shut against each other. “ _What did you do?_ ”

The demon turned towards him, opening his mouth to talk.

“ _Why did you do this?_ ” The vampire lunged towards the demon, pushing him until his back hit the wall.

“ _He was going to kill you!_ ”

“ _So that I could see my family!_ ” Chan clenched his fists, punching the wall right next to Seungmin’s head.

“ _What about your family here?_ ”

Five words that took Chan off-guard. Only five words, and his every move stopped. He even stopped breathing. He didn’t know how to breathe anymore. His head spun. The entire room spun. He didn’t know how to answer to that. He felt words battling up in his head, fighting to be said first. He couldn’t decide on a word. He didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth to answer, a guttural sound escaped him. He didn’t know how to form a word, even less a sentence, not even a thought. He just didn’t know.

Whispers. All he could hear was whispers. He didn’t even want to focus on them. He knew they were about him, so what was the point of listening if not to bring him pain? He simply chose to close his eyes and let his head fall on the couch’s armrest. His body half fell on the couch; he remained sitting, but his upper body was lying down.

“ _You should go home_ ,” the voice came towards him.

“ _I’m not ready to see them_.”

“ _And I’m not ready to spend the night with you, so go away_.”

He felt a heavy weight dropping next to him on the couch. He got up a bit, opening his eyes again, falling face-to-face with the demon’s black eyes. “ _What did he say?_ ”

“ _They’re worried for you_.” Seungmin’s voice was caring. It was smoother and softer than Chan ever heard. He didn’t dislike it, yet he couldn’t like it either.

He walked back home, slower than he ever did. He took his time. He dreaded the moment he’d get home. What should he say? How could he even say something? ‘ _I summoned the Devil and almost gave up on you all_ ’? Was it something one could say? No, of course not. Chan was scared. Ashamed.

The thought lingered in his head. The offer, the idea, it stayed in his mind. It was idyllic. It was the best offer someone ever made to him. It was all he ever dreamt of. To see his family back. His mother, his father, his siblings. To see their faces, hear their voices, feel their warmth. Chan closed his eyes tightly, stopping on the sidewalk to take a deep breath. “ _I miss you_ ,” he murmured to himself. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a few passers-by staring at him.

Chan took a detour. He let his body walk him through his memory. He barely recognized the path he was taking until he was in front of it. His old apartment. His old street. He remembered quite well when he met Minho for the first time. A fond smile came to his face as he stared at the still standing building. A young woman came on the balcony that was previously his, staring down at him. He left.

He found himself standing in front of an empty alleyway, wondering why his feet dragged him there until he smelled it. Hyunjin’s scent. All those centuries and the scent was still there. Hyunjin’s parents’ smell was long gone, but Chan couldn’t help but imagine it. He felt a tight lump in his throat as he kept walking.

Chan found himself stopping in front of a flower shop. It oddly looked like Jisung’s. Chan scoffed, wondering if the human would be pleased to see a shop so similar to his. The vampire kept walking, knowing exactly where he was heading next.

The convenience store was still the same. And it would have been weird if it had change in less than a year. He recognized a few of Felix’s colleagues. They saw him through the window, waving at him. Chan waved back, forcing a smile on his face. Walking through his memories only put more weight on his shoulders.

He only had one more place to go to. Home.

His chest was heavy, so were his shoulders and legs. His whole body was heavy when he stepped foot in the forest. The path was still bright. He feared going deeper in the forest. Would they be waiting for him? Would they hear him come? Maybe they already knew everything. They probably were all deeply disappointed in him. He’ll for sure have to walk on this path again, to leave forever. Chan was so sure that once they’d find out he wanted to go back to his family, they’d ask him to leave this one.

He arrived too fast. He didn’t have time to prepare himself. He had barely started to walk through the forest that he was now almost at the house. He could hear their voices. It made him stop. His lower lip trembled a bit.

Not ready at all to face them, Chan turned on his right, walking through the forest. He didn’t know where he was going. He never really took time to inspect the forest, anyway. He always ran through it while hunting, never really took the time to _visit_. However, his body knew the way. He turned left, then right, walked in a straight line, avoided trees he didn’t remember knowing about… and then he found it. The pond. The trees. Clear blue water in the middle of bright green grass. Trees ordered in circles, gentle wind going through the leaves. For the first time, Chan walked towards it. He went through two of the trees, feeling the weight being lifted from his shoulders.

Chan understood why Hyunjin went there from time to time. He crouched down in front of the pond, staring at his reflection. The grass moved a bit beside him. When he looked down, he saw the same bunny that was with Hyunjin before. “ _Hello_ ,” he ran the tip of his fingers through the animal’s fur. “ _Where do you come from?_ ” He scratched softly beneath the rabbit’s ear. He felt at peace. Chan felt at peace for one of the first time of his life.

He lost track of time. He was sitting cross-legged in the grass, the bunny still next to him. It was like another timeline. Another world he had step into. Everything felt magical. It wasn’t until he felt another gentle wind going through his hair that he realized he should be home by now. He got up from the grass, leaving the bunny behind. If entering this place had felt liberating, leaving it came with all the weight crashing back down on his shoulders. Lights went down. One second he was basking in light in front of a pond, the next he was in the dark light of the moon, walking through an empty forest.

The house had all the lights on. He could hear everyone’s voice. Chan stopped in front of the door, inhaling sharply has he held onto the doorknob. He was scared. As quietly as he could, he opened the door.

“ _No, he said he left hours ago_.”

“ _Maybe something happened on the way?_ ”

“ _It’s Chan, come on!_ ”

“ _We should go find him_.”

“ _Seungmin said he might need time alone_.”

“ _What were they doing anyway? Why couldn’t he tell you over the phone?_ ”

Chan listened. He tried to listen. But as soon as he opened the door, he was hit with a strong scent of peaches, coffee and old books. He got hit with the scent of safety, warmth and familiarity. His shoulders dropped, his bottom lip trembling hard as his eyes filled with tears he fought to contain.

“ _I don’t care, I’m going to find him_ ,” he heard Felix say.

The three boys walked towards the front door, ready to leave, only to be met with a quivering Chan.

“ _You’re home!_ ” Felix shouted, running towards him.

He tackled him into a hug. Chan almost fell backwards, arms circling his boyfriend’s waist. He barely had time to get accustomed to Felix’s body against him that Hyunjin and Minho joined the hug. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. Chan burst into tears, trying his best to hug all three of them as tightly as he could.

Chan only had one family. It simply evolved over the centuries. There was no choice to make. He had his family for eternity, some left, some entered the family. It was simply part of life. Death wasn’t a cure to his curse. Chan wasn’t cursed. Chan wasn’t empty anymore. He has his family, filling the holes in his soul.

Chan chose them over anything in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I had lots of fun writing this story. I started writing this in June, it took me around four months to finally complete it. It went a bit in directions I hadn't planned, as it wasn't even supposed to continue after Felix and Chan's meeting. There were some unexpected plot twists (aka Chan wasn't supposed to be Felix's father, the old leader wasn't supposed to come back...), I still hope you had fun reading it, as much as I did writing them. This is my longest work, and one of the rare completed chaptered work I ever made.  
> Thank you to everyone who kudos and commented on this, everyone who's read even just one chapter, to those who've only read this work and those who've read other of my works. I'm a bit emotional right now, as this story ends. Thank you♡

**Author's Note:**

> find more work on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/softflowermin) :]  
> you can also ask question related to my works on my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/softflowermin)!


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